


Just Deserts

by YouCantKeepMeDown



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Blackmail, Body Guard Dean, Body Guard Sam, Chuck is not a bad father, D/s undertones for Dean/Michael, Dean/Michael side pairing, Everyone Is Gay, Except Raphael, Illegal Activities, Lucifer and Gabriel are not brothers, M/M, Morally Ambiguous Character, Okay not everyone is gay some are bi too, Only by people no one likes anyway, Possessive Gabriel, Possessive Lucifer, Punk Lucifer (Supernatural), Sharing a Bed, Slight Transphobia, There's a Reason for it though, They get their own chapters though, Trans Raphael, a tiny bit of homophobia in one chapter, all the consent though, and they get what they deserve, as far as that's possible with the Winchesters involved, everybody has a shady past, probably unrealistic hacking, problems get resolved by talking, side megstiel, they're adopted
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-02
Updated: 2017-09-26
Packaged: 2018-11-08 03:05:32
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 32
Words: 77,077
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11072757
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YouCantKeepMeDown/pseuds/YouCantKeepMeDown
Summary: Sam and Dean get hired as body guards for the youngest children of very rich writer Chuck Shurley: Gabriel and Raphaela.While Dean bonds pretty fast with trans girl Raphaela, Sam gets stuck with Gabriel, who not only hits on him all the time, but also loves to play elaborate pranks on people that anger him or his siblings. Sam soon realizes that it’s completely futile to try and keep Gabriel from doing anything, so he just tags along. After all, his job is protecting Gabriel from other people, not protecting other people from Gabriel. But then Gabriel’s older brother Lucifer shows up, who had been on tour with his punk band, and things get complicated. Sam finds himself drawn into a quest for revenge that gets out of hand pretty fast.At the same time Dean tries to figure out how to hit on the oldest brother Michael even though he's the one who hired them, which makes him technically Dean's boss.Lucifer/Gabriel/Sam end game. Dean/Michael are a side pairing, but they do get their own chapters.





	1. New Job

**Author's Note:**

> I'm trying to update every Tuesday and Friday. I can't promise it'll work all the time, but it mostly worked for Family Ties, so we'll see.
> 
> This story starts with Sabriel. Lucifer will show up in chapter 5. Dean and Michael get their first chapter in chapter 6.
> 
> Regarding this chapter: This is the first time ever Sam sees a trans person who's still transitioning, so give him some time to adjust. Also, if I messed up with the way I write Raphaela, please let me know politely, and I'll try and fix it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Big thanks to my beta readers coplins, brieflymaximumprincess and lucibae-is-dancing-in-hell.

“Rich people ...“ Dean shakes his head. They’re standing in front of an iron gate twice as high as Sam is tall. Through it, Sam can see a long driveway that vanishes between trees and bushes after a while. Behind all the green there’s only the hint of a roof in the distance.

“Who needs a front yard that could fit a football stadium?“ Dean goes on.

Sam huffs. “People who can afford bodyguards. And we should be glad for that.“

There’s a button that looks like a doorbell next to the gate, so Sam pushes it.

“Yes?“ comes a voice from a speaker next to the bell.

“Sam and Dean Winchester,“ Sam announces them. “We’re supposed to start work here today.“

“The new body guards?“ the voice asks.

“Yes, exactly.“

“Wait by the door. Someone will come and fetch you.“

They wait for a while, before a brunette middle-aged woman appears on the driveway. She lets them in through a small door at the side, then leads them towards the house that turns out to be more of a mansion, pillars and balconies everywhere and a flight of stairs leading up to a big door in the middle.

Sam hears his brother mutter ‘Rich people’ again, and fakes a cough so the woman doesn’t catch it.

At the door, she turns to them. “You’ll speak to Michael Shurley first,“ she says.

“We were told to meet Chuck Shurley ...“ Sam starts.

“Yes. But he’s busy. Michael is the oldest son, he’s in charge for now. You’ll discuss all matters with him.“ Her voice is cold and matter of factly. Not a very warm welcome.

Sam exchanges a looks with his brother. Dean just shrugs. He doesn’t even have to say it this time, Sam can read it in his face: ‘Rich people ...’

* * *

Michael Shurley looks as matter of factly as the woman who greeted them. He has a cold kind of beauty, though, and Sam has to elbow Dean in the ribs to keep him from staring. The oldest Shurley son greets them with a nod, then tells them about their duties: “You’ll accompany my two youngest siblings every time they leave the mansion. Work hours will be infrequent. You’ll live here and you’ll have to be available at every hour of the day.“

“Yeah,“ Dean says. “The guy who did the job interview told us that already.“

Sam sighs. Good thing they already have the job and don’t need to make a good impression anymore, because Dean would have messed that up by now.

Michael bristles a bit at the interruption, but goes on without saying anything about it. “I trust you were also informed why the employment of your predecessors had to be terminated.“

“I think there were some issues with your youngest ...“ Sam hesitates a bit at that. “Sister?“

Michael gives him a tight lipped smile. “Correct. Raphaela has only started transitioning recently, but you’ll call her by the name she chose for herself and use the right set of pronouns. Will that be a problem?“

“No, Sir!“

Sam tries not to roll his eyes at his brother. The ‘Sir’ is probably a direct reaction to Michael’s tone of voice and a result of their father’s upbringing. Michael seems to like it, though, because his smile get a bit more sincere and he gives Dean an appreciative look.

“There’s also the issue of Gabriel,“ Michael goes on. “He’s tried to shake his bodyguards before, and if you can’t keep up with him, we’ll have to look for someone else to do the job.“

“We’re good at keeping up,“ Sam assures him.

“We’ll see,“ Michael says. “You should also remember that your task is to keep Gabriel safe from strangers not to keep strangers safe from Gabriel. Having your priorities straight will make your life a lot easier.“

Sam and Dean exchange another look at that, and Sam knows exactly what Dean is thinking again

“Sounds like fun,“ Dean says after a moment.

“So who will be guarding whom?“ Sam asks.

Another tight lipped smile. “Knowing my siblings, I’ll let them decide for themselves. They should be here any –“

As if on cue the door opens with force and bangs against the wall. A small man strides in, golden eyes blazing. “Mikey, I told you before and I told dad before, I don’t need a –“

He stops in the middle of his sentence, when he sees Sam and Dean. His gaze locks on Sam, and the angry look on his face gets replaced by surprise, then a smirk. “Oh, are you trying to bribe me now?“

“Gabriel!“ Michael says in a stern voice. “This is Sam and Dean Winchester.“

Describing Gabriel’s eyes as golden doesn’t quite cut it. They’re the color of sunlight filtering through a glass of whiskey. Sam likes the color almost as much as he doesn’t like the suggestive way Gabriel lifts an eyebrow at him.

“Oh yes, you are trying to bribe me, aren’t you, big brother?“

“They were not hired for your viewing pleasure!“ Michael turns to Sam and Dean. “Excuse my brother, he doesn’t know how to behave.“

Dean waves the issue away. “No problem.“

“Well,“ Gabriel says, “I _would_ consider not trying to shake this one too much.“ He stalks closer towards Sam. “Which one are you? Dean-o or Sammy?“

“It’s Sam,“ Sam corrects. He can’t be impolite to the son of his employer, but he sure as hell won’t let an arrogant asshole like Gabriel call him nicknames.

Gabriel comes to a halt in front of him. He has to tilt his head back to look him in the eye. “Nice to meet you, Sam. You did always eat your vegetables, when you were younger, didn’t you?“

Okay, that’s one point on the positive side for not insisting on calling him Sammy. And the smile Gabriel gives him now is a lot nicer than the suggestive look before. That makes Gabriel still an asshole, but maybe a bit less so than Sam has thought. “Nice to meet you, too, Mr. Shurley.“

“Don’t you dare ‘Mr. Shurley’ me. You can call me Gabe.“

With that Gabriel turns to Michael again. He points with one thumb over his shoulder towards Sam. “Can I have him?“

Definitely still an asshole.

Michael sighs. “You have to ask your sister.“

Both brothers turn towards the door, and only now does Sam realize that someone else has entered the room. It’s a teenage ... Sam’s brain automatically tries to assign a gender, but after a moment gives up with a confused shrug ... The facial features are soft, but they say young boy a bit more than young girl. The dress definitely says girl though. And Michael has said sister and something about transition. Sam reminds his brain of that, and it gives in after a moment, the right label clicking in place.

He only registers the darker skin color on the side after that. But Michael and Gabriel don’t look particularly alike either, so this family is probably a bit more complicated than it looks at first glance.

“Raphe ...“ Gabriel draws the word out and Sam recognizes the tone. He uses it himself from time to time, when he wants something from Dean.

Raphaela rolls her eyes. “I honestly don’t care.“

Gabriel grins. “Settled then. The Samsquatch is mine.“

Sam is pretty sure he likes Samsquatch even less than Sammy. This will probably be a really fun job.

With another sigh Michael pinches the bridge of his nose. “It’s nice to see you enthusiastic about getting a bodyguard for once, but please tone it down a little.“ He turns to Sam. “Any protests against the arrangement?“

Sam shakes his head.

“Very well,“ Michael says, “Raphaela, meet your new bodyguard Dean Winchester.“

Dean takes a step forward to shake the girl’s hand. “Nice to meet you, little lady.“

He’s rewarded with a bright smile. Sam envies Dean a little.

When they leave the office a while later, Dean pulls Sam aside. “You sure this is alright with you, Sammy?“

Sam huffs. “I can handle a little flirting, Dean.“

“A little? Understatement of the year.“

Sam huffs a laugh. “It’ll be fine, Dean.“

“Yeah, okay, but if it isn’t at some point, I got no problem to quit by punching an employer in the face.“

It’s kind of nice knowing that his big brother has his back.


	2. Curiosity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Sam learns a few things about the Shurley family.

Since they’re going to live in the Shurley mansion, they go get their stuff from the motel and check out there. The same woman as before shows them to their rooms, when they get back. When Sam enters his room, he stops right in the door, jaw hanging slack.

He and Dean have basically grown up on the road, since their dad never wanted to stay anywhere for long. Sam is used to dingy motel rooms, and there was one summer they spent living in a tent. What he isn’t used to is the soft carpet that stretches from wall to wall, the bed that looks like it’s actually long enough so that his feet won’t hang out, and the window that goes out to the backyard. He can see a fountain in the middle of a seemingly endless lawn dotted with artfully cut hedges and flower beds.

Sam’s new room is also bigger than anything he’s ever lived in. And he doesn’t have to share it with Dean.

“Call, if you need anything.“ The woman leaves and Sam realizes he’s still standing in the doorway. He takes a few steps in and lets his duffle bag drop to the floor. The realization hits him that he doesn’t have to live out of his bag any more either. There’s a wardrobe he can put his clothes in.

He’s busy with that, when there’s a knock at the door.

“Come in!“ he calls without looking up.

The door opens. “Settling in already, I see.“ It’s Gabriel’s voice. When Sam finally turns around, the shorter man is leaning against the door frame, smirk in place.

“What do you want?“ It comes out a bit harsher than Sam intended to.

Gabriel makes a show out of acting hurt. “Don’t be like that, Samshine. I’m just checking on you. And you can’t blame me for wanting to get to know the guy who’ll be catching bullets for me, if things go really bad.“

Sam really can’t blame him for that. “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that,“ he mumbles.

Gabriel nods and steps in without invitation, closing the door behind him. “Would be a real waste.“ He pulls a lollipop out of his pocket, unwraps it and lets himself fall onto Sam’s bed.

“You must have a lot of questions,“ he says around the sweet.

Sam looks him up and down. This is the son of the guy that’ll be paying his wages from now on, so he should be nice. On the other hand, Gabriel’s sitting on Sam’s bed right now, obscenely licking a lollipop. Nice will probably just make him try and test Sam’s boundaries even more.

So Sam demonstratively turns back to unpacking, before he answers. “I don’t know. Maybe you just want the opportunity to ask questions back.“

Gabriel laughs. “Believe me, I don’t need an excuse for that.“

“Well, then go ahead.“ The sooner Gabriel’s curiosity is satisfied the sooner he’ll leave hopefully.

“If you ask like that.“ Sam can hear the smirk in Gabriel’s voice. “First question: Are you into men?“

If there’s one thing you can’t accuse Gabriel of it’s wasting time. And the honest answer to this question would be that Sam isn’t sure. The thought of being with another man doesn’t bother him, but he’s never met one he was actually interested in. So he says: “No. You got the wrong brother for that.“

He can hear the lollipop clicking against Gabriel’s teeth. “I think you hesitated a bit too long for that to be a definite no.“

Oh great, does he consider it a challenge now? Sam turns, just to find Gabriel sprawled on his bed, propped up on one elbow, lollipop in his other hand. Sam sighs. “Listen, even if I was, I’m your bodyguard. This is a professional work relationship.“

Gabriel winks at him. “Sure.“

“You should consider yourself lucky that I am a professional, because that means I’ll be catching bullets for you even if you’re an obnoxious jerk.“ Oops, and that probably went a bit too far.

Gabriel just clutches his heart in another show of fake hurt though. He even grins. “Fair enough. Do you want to ask a question back now?“

At least he isn’t easily offended. Maybe this job won’t be as bad as Sam thought. He shakes his head.

Gabriel lifts an eyebrow again. “Really? You don’t want to know why all of my sibling aren’t looking alike at all?“

“None of my business.“ Sam turns back to unpacking.

“Come on, you have to be curious.“

Sam grins to himself. If he can drive Gabriel mad by not showing any curiosity at all, that’ll be totally worth not getting to know about the dark secrets of the Shurley family any time soon. “Nope.“

“If you don’t start asking questions, I will.“

Okay, that’s a serious threat. Sam turns with a sigh. “Why don’t you and your siblings look alike?“

Gabriels points the lollipop at him with a triumphant grin. “Good kid. The answer is that we’re all adopted.“

“Chuck Shurley adopted you?“ Sam finds himself asking despite himself.

“No, the ghost of his grandmother.“ Gabriel rolls his eyes. “Yes, of course Chuck.“

When Sam glares at him, Gabriel chuckles. “Next question. I can practically see it on the tip of your tongue. Don’t be shy now, Samshine.“

When Sam hesitates, Gabriel gets very serious, very suddenly. “Look, I’m tired of those confused looks people give us, when they start to realize that something is off with our family, but they don’t dare to ask. Let’s get this over with, shall we?“

Put like that Sam can hardly refuse anymore. “Okay,“ he says. “Is there a Mrs. Shurley?“

“Nope.“ Gabriel flops back on Sam’s bed. “There’s aunt Amara, though.“

“That’s ... unusual.“

Gabriel laughs. “That’s exactly my point.“

Probably also no point in trying to act like he doesn’t want to know more any more. “Care to explain how that happened?“

Gabriel sits up again. “It all started with Michael. He got thrown out by his parents, because he was gay. Chuck did a charity thing at some soup kitchen, met him there and he and aunt Amara adopted him. After that he kind of started collecting unwanted queer kids.“

Now it all starts making sense. And since Sam’s already asking questions: “That’s just the three of you, though, is it?“

“And Lucifer.“

Sam lifts an eyebrow. “You have an adopted brother who’s named Lucifer?“

“No,“ Gabriel says around his lollipop. “Real name is Nick, but the rest of us are named after angels, and he earned Lucifer.“

Instantly Sam tries to imagine someone who manages to look bad even in Gabriel’s company.

Gabriel chuckles. “Don’t look so worried. He doesn’t live here any more.“

“He got thrown out?“

“Hardly. It was highly suggested that he moved out, though, because one day him and Mikey will probably kill each other on sight. He has a band, they’re touring right now.“ Gabriel meets Sam’s eyes, and his grin gets bigger. “Oh, look, I finally made you curious. I think my work here is done.“

He puts the lollipop back in his mouth and gets up. It irks Sam that he’s right. He’s half in his mind to call after Gabriel and ask why Michael and Nick don’t get along. He doesn’t want to give the guy the satisfaction, though, so he just watches him leave.

At the door Gabriel stops for a moment. “Oh, I promised Raphe to take her shopping tomorrow, so there’ll be work for you. Happy unpacking. See you then.“

With that he’s gone.


	3. Best Served Cold

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which there is glitter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is what the 'slight transphobia' tag is for. But as said in the tags, assholes get what they deserve.

It’s the first time Sam has ever sat in a limousine. When they climb in, even Dean is too excited to do the ‘Rich people’-eyeroll again. Inside, there’s enough room even for Sam’s legs. There’s also a minibar. Gabriel pours himself a drink and offers another one with a smirk to Sam and Dean.

“We’re working.“

Gabriel grins. “We’re going shopping. Nothing will happen.“

Sam shakes his head anyway, Dean follows the example after a moment.

“What are you guys shopping for anyway?“ Dean asks.

Raphaela bounces excitedly in her seat. “A dress for the gala.“

“What gala?“ Sam asks. He isn’t quite sure what Chuck Shurley is actually doing in terms of work and what kind of event he could hold. He published some books, so much is for sure. But apart from that he seemed to have inherited most of his money.

“Charity gala,“ Gabriel explains. “Dad is big on those.“

“It’s next week,“ Raphe tells them. She smiles nervously. “And it’s my first one.“

“And you’ll look great.“ Gabriel lifts his drink as if for emphasis. “We’ll make sure of that.“

* * *

Sam is glad he and Dean get to do their first day of work together. They always work best as a team. They get out of the limo first, make sure everything is alright, then have Gabriel and Raphe come out after them. While they’re going from boutique to boutique the Winchesters keep the Shurley siblings discreetly between them at all times. There’s no threat whatsoever in sight, but this is their job and they’re going to do it well.

Gabriel rolls his eyes at all of their caution, but a smile and puppy eyes from Sam work magic and make him comply to most of their requests. Maybe it’s not completely bad that he’s obviously still looking for a way into Sam’s pants.

And Gabriel may be an ass, but he’s great with Raphaela. He keeps her smiling and happy all the time, makes jokes and fools around in shops by trying on ridiculous sunglasses and hats. Or have Sam and Dean try them on.

It’s all nice and fun, until in one boutique a sales person walks up to them. It’s a middle aged guy, his smile as big as it is fake. “Excuse me, this is the women’s section.“

Gabriel puts on his best smile. “Yeah, we kinda noticed. We’re shopping dresses for my little sister here.“ He points at Raphe.

“Sir,“ the guy says, “we do not like pranks in our shop. You’re disturbing the other customers.“

Sam and Dean exchange a look, while Gabriel’s eyes narrow. “Is that so?“

Raphe’s smile is all but gone now. She looks small and sad all of a sudden, but also a bit angry. Sam doesn’t even think, he steps next to Gabriel, in front of the girl, shielding her from the store clerk’s eyes. Dean remains next to her, hand on her shoulder.

“It would be better, if you left,“ the salesperson says.

“Is that so?“ This time there’s something dangerous in Gabriel’s voice, something Sam wouldn’t have thought the smaller man capable of. “Can I speak to your manager, please?“

“I am the manager and the owner of the store.“

Gabriel quirks an eyebrow up. “Oh sorry. You should put up a warning sign that this shop is owned by an asshole. We wouldn’t have bothered entering at all.“

The man stiffens at that. “I’ll ask you one last time to leave.“

Sam half expects Gabriel to refuse, but to his surprise the smaller man just shrugs. He half turns to his sister. “Sorry, little one. I didn’t realize I dragged you into a dung heap. Come on.“

He turns to leave, and Raphe straightens up and follows with all the pride of a princess, Sam and Dean on their heels.

Half way out Sam hears Gabriel whisper. “You remember what Mikey said about flipping people off?“

Raphe nods.

“This is one of those instance when you ignore what Mikey says.“

Raphe grins and flips the store owner off over her shoulder without even looking back. Sam struggles to keep a straight face, and somewhere behind him Dean sniggers.

“I promise though,“ Gabriel goes on, “he won’t get away that easy.“

* * *

The rest of the afternoon goes by pleasantly. Not long before the shops start to close Gabriel buys two backpacks and fills them with bags of glitter. He doesn’t bother to explain himself. He just sends Raphe home with Dean, hands Sam one of the backpacks and tells him to follow.

The streets are mostly empty now, while they walk back to the store they got thrown out of.

“What are you up to?“ Sam asks.

Gabriel grins. “You’ll see.“ He turns into a back alley next to the shop, making his way around the building until they reach the back entrance. Sam has a very bad feeling about this.

“I get the feeling I should stop you.“

“You’re not my babysitter, Samalam, you’re my body guard. Just stay close and do your guarding thing and you’re doing fine.“ Gabriel scrutinizes the door before him. The store is closed by now, the employers most likely gone, hopefully the owner too. Gabriel bends down to inspect the lock.

Shit. Does this have to happen at his first day on the job? Sam is in half his mind to just grab Gabriel and force him back to the mansion, but he remembers what Michael said about keeping Gabriel safe, not keeping other people safe from Gabriel. Is this what he meant? One thing is for sure, though: If Sam pisses Gabriel off, his job will get so much harder.

That’s why the only thing he says is: “There’ll probably be an alarm system of some sort.“

“Yeah, I know, I know. That’s why I’m not breaking the door.“ He pulls a lockpick out of his pocket.

Sam lifts an eyebrow, and Gabriel shoots him a grin over his shoulder. “Me and my brothers haven’t been born rich, you know? And Luci taught me a few tricks.“

He’s obviously out of practice, though, the way he fumbles with the lock. Sam shoots some nervous glances up and down the alley, then he decides to speed this up. “Let me ...“

Gabriel straightens up. “You any good at this?“

“Better than you.“

“Oh ho.“ Gabriel waggles his eyebrows. “You’re full of surprises, kiddo.“

“Listen. If I help you get in there, you’re not going to tell any of your siblings or your father, okay?“

Gabriel grins. “My lips are sealed.“

Sam very much doubts that the guy can shut up for more than five minutes, but the longer they’re standing here, the higher the risk of being caught. He takes the lockpick Gabriel hands him and squats down in front of the door. He spies the wire of an alarm system near the hinges of the door and cuts it with his pocket knife. After that he goes to work on the lock.

“I’m very curious now, Samshine.“

“I can imagine that.“

“I’m pretty sure Lucifer would appreciate that level of skill.“

“Good to know.“

“We all got our skewy past. You can share with the group.“

Sam doesn’t bother hiding a smile. “I’m not sure the rest of your family would agree with that, and I want to keep this job.“

“Whatever it is, I’m probably imagining worse right now and I could share some theories with Michael.“

Sam sighs at the same time the lock clicks open. He stands up and pushes at the door. “Dad was a burglar and a con artist.“ That’s not the complete truth, though it is how they made their living most of the time.

Gabriel laughs. “You really are full of surprises.“ When he moves to step into the shop though, Sam holds him back.

“There’ll most likely be security cameras.“

“I’m better with security cameras than I am with locks, trust me.“

That’s not the most reassuring thing Sam has ever heard. When he hesitates, Gabriel turns around to him completely and steps closer, suddenly some of the fierceness in his eyes that Sam has also seen, when Gabriel had been talking to the shop owner. “Listen, Sammy, I really do like you, and that’s not just because you’re some hot piece of ass. I think we have the potential to get along nicely, but you have to realize something.“

Sam holds the gaze of those sunlight and whiskey colored eyes. He can feel Gabriel’s body heat, that’s how close they are. He won’t back down though. “Yeah?“

“I’m not the one who’s following orders here. And I’m willing to go along with a lot of things you suggest, but this guy _will_ get what he deserves.“

Sam bites back an angry remark. He really needs to keep this job. Getting hired by the Shurley family is the best thing that has happened to him and Dean in a while. He can’t ruin it. “Fine“, he says. “But let me at least check, if someone is still in there.“

Gabriels expression changes instantly, and he smiles again, takes a step back. He gestures in the direction of the door. “Go ahead. Not keeping you from doing your job.“

“You’re just making it so much harder.“ Sam brushes past Gabriel and steps into the shop though. Everything is quiet. They make their way down a small hallway, past the staff bathrooms, through a storage room and finally into the salesroom. Gabriel instantly heads over to the computer on the counter. Whatever he does there, he definitely is better at it than he is with locks, because after a moment the lights of the security cameras Sam has spied in the corners blink out.

“I deleted all the footage of us and replaced it with a loop.“

Sam can’t help it, he’s impressed. “Not bad.“

Gabriels grins. “Told you. Now hand me those bags of glitter.“

It becomes pretty clear pretty fast what Gabriel has been planning. Glitter gets dumped everywhere, over all the clothes in the shop. No way this store is going to open tomorrow. All the employers will be busy trying to get the clothes clean again. Sam knows he should feel bad about it, but the way the shop owner has looked at Raphe is still fresh in his mind.

When they’re done (Sam had figured that helping will save them time), there’s glitter on both of their clothes, too.

Gabriel sets a timer for the security cameras to activate again, then they hurry out, pull the door shut behind them. Back in the alley Gabriel laughs. “I wish I could see the face of that jerk tomorrow.“

Sam is busy trying to get glitter out of his hair.

“Hold still.“ Gabriel’s voice can be pretty commanding, if he wants it to be, and Sam obeys on instinct, just like Dean had slipped up with that ‘Sir’ talking to Michael. Still smiling Gabriel reaches out and brushes a piece of glitter off Sam’s cheek. The contact is brief, but warm and leaves a pleasant tingling sensation on Sam’s skin. He hopes it doesn’t show on his face.

“Can’t have the stuff get into you eyes, that can end nastily.“ Gabriel’s smile turns into a smirk, when he steps back and looks Sam over. “A few less layers of clothing and you would look really pretty like this though.“

Sam rolls his eyes.

Gabriel gives him another look, this time more suggestive, then he turns away. “Come on. We shouldn’t head back to the mansion looking like this, but I know a place where we can de-sparkle.“

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 


	4. A Deal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which a deal is made

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a bit more serious than the ones before. And because there will be a moment where you'll probably worry about it: There's all the consent in this fic. Not even a smidge of dubcon. I promise.
> 
> Also, thanks to [brieflymaximumprincess](http://archiveofourown.org/users/brieflymaximumprincess) for coming up with what the apartment should looks like. Go and check out all her Samifer fics. They're great.

The place Gabriel had in mind is a penthouse suite in the middle of the city. By the time he unlocks the door, it’s completely dark outside, and the first thing Sam can see, when the lights go on, is windows over windows that act like mirrors now. Sam is pretty sure most of the wall space is taken up by glass.

There’s only one big room and barely any furniture, if you don’t count the half a dozen stands with guitars on them. The only other things in the room are a couch, a flat screen TV and something that’s probably a bed, but looks more like a giant nest that’s overflowing with pillows. Dean would probably do the ‘rich people’ eyeroll again.

Someone has spray painted an anarchy symbol on the pillar in the middle of the room, though, and on the few walls this place actually has are band posters that give more of a troubled youth vibe than a spoiled rich kid vibe.

Behind a room divider there’s a kitchen that looks like it gets never actually used, and the only door probably leads to the bathroom.

“This yours?“ Sam asks.

Gabriel laughs. “No, it’s Luci’s. Remember, he’s on tour. We can crash here.“

Well, that explains the guitars.

Sam stops in front of the anarchy symbol, probably leaving glitter in his wake. “Let me guess. Punk rock band?“

“Wow, you should’ve become a private detective instead of a bodyguard,“ Gabriel deadpans. “Now get out of your clothes, before you leave glitter everywhere.“

He catches Sam’s skeptical look and grins. “Don’t worry, there should be something in Luci’s wardrobe that fits you. You won’t have to sit here in your underwear. Though that’s a real pity.“

The way he says the last sentence sounds like he’s stating a fact, not like he’s making a real effort at flirting. Sam appreciates that.

“Still, I hope you’re not shy, because there will be no walking around in this apartment while we’re still sparkly. Luci will kill me, if we get glitter on anything important. So, undress, now.“

There’s that commanding voice again that doesn’t quite seem to fit the rest of Gabriel’s personality. Sam throws him another skeptical look, but Gabriel’s already pulling his shirt over his head. So Sam decides not to play coy and follows suit.

Their clothes end up in a glittery heap on the floor, the pistol Sam always carries in a concealed holster right next to it. Of course Gabriel doesn’t let the opportunity slide to let his eyes rake over Sam’s body that’s now only clad in boxer shorts and a few flakes of glitter here and there. Sam makes a show of rolling his eyes and very pointedly does not stare in return. “Didn’t you want to shower first?“

Gabriel grins. “Sorry, got distracted there.“

He picks up the clothes and vanishes in the direction of the bathroom. Sam catches himself staring at Gabriel’s ass for a moment, before he hurriedly looks away again.

* * *

When Sam steps out of the bathroom, hair wet and mostly glitter free now, Gabriel throws him some articles of clothing from the direction of the couch. Sam catches them on instinct.

“Please, just don’t think you have to dress for my sake.“

Sam snorts. “You kind of suck at flirting.”

“Who says I’m not just trying to annoy you?” Gabriel says with a wink.

“In that case you suck at that, too. It’s mostly kind of amusing.”

Gabriel laughs. “Happy I can be of service and make you laugh.” He’s wearing boxer shorts and a t-shirt himself, and from somewhere he’s pulled a laptop that’s set up in front of him on the couch. For now his full attention is on Sam though. “Luci is a bit shorter than you. Don’t know, if the pants fit, but the cleaning service will be done with our own clothes by tomorrow.“

“We’ll be staying the night?“ Sam asks, mostly to distract himself from the way Gabriel is staring at him again. The flirting might be amusing, but there’s an intensity in Gabriel’s gaze Sam doesn’t know how to deal with. He hurriedly pulls the t-shirt over his head that has the washed out logo of a band on it. Then he tries the pants, a pair of jeans with a lot of holes in them. They fit, even though they’re a bit too short.

Gabriel’s eyes sparkle. “The punk look suits you. I mean, I don’t care much for the t-shirt, but I should talk to Michael, have him make tight jeans with holes in them a work uniform.“

“The day you get to decide what I’m wearing is the day I quit.“ Automatically Sam falls into the same tone of voice Gabriel has, one that sounds only half like he means it. He picks up his weapon that’s the only thing left on the floor and walks over to the couch. There’s something on the screen of the laptop that looks like police files.

“I thought you wanted to keep the job,“ Gabriel says.

“Not at all cost.“ Sam hangs the holster over the back of the couch.

“Hm ... it doesn’t look like you have many options though.“ Gabriel is completely serious all of a sudden. And now Sam can really see what’s on the screen. His father is staring back at him from a picture in the right corner of the file.

Sam goes very still, ice suddenly filling his stomach. “You dug up information about me.“ And by the look of it, Gabriel didn’t do it through legal means.

Gabriel lifts both hands in an apologetic gesture. “I was curious. I didn’t expect to find out that your father is in a mental hospital, because he thinks demons are real. And I didn’t expect to learn that your body guard licence is most likely fake. Though your brother’s doesn’t seem to be.“

Sam feels sick. So this is it. First day on the job and he’ll lose it again. Dean will not be happy. They’ll have to go back to hustling pool and doing credit card scams. How did Gabriel even realize the licence wasn’t real? They put a lot of effort into faking it. It should’ve held up. “I swear this isn’t some kind of scam,“ he says. “I’m good at this job, I just can’t afford the licence. We were just trying to find honest work.“

Gabriel props his head up on one hand, elbow on the backrest of the couch. He stares at Sam, eyes trying to bore into Sam’s soul.

“Please.“ Sam cringes at how pathetic he sounds, but he can’t help it. “Dean needs something good right now. Please don’t tell anyone. I’ll do whatever you want.“

Gabriel’s eyebrows quirk up at that. “So ‘Not at all cost.’ was a lie, wasn’t it?“

At least that’s interest right there. Sam feels a bit of relief, even though he’s pretty sure he knows what Gabriel is going ask for. He takes a deep breath. “I lied about my orientation, too. I’m actually not sure. I just never met a guy that –“

Gabriel leans over the backrest of the couch and suddenly there’s a finger on Sam’s lips. “Shhh.“ Gabriel’s gaze is glued to Sam’s lips for a moment, and the tip of a pink tongue darts out, wetting his own. Yup, Sam is pretty sure what Gabriel’s going to ask for, and his body and mind are sending very mixed signals about it. It’s not like he minds the way Gabriel looks at him that much. But suddenly Gabriel pulls his hand away and clears his throat. “Really, Sammy, I’m hurt. You think I’m that desperate? You know, I like the people I have sex with to be as enthusiastic about it as I am.“

Sam lets a breath escape he hadn’t realized he was holding. “I’m sorry. I –“

“I want something else, though.“

Sam presses his lips together and nods. “What is it?“

With a grin Gabriel leans back on the couch again. “I don’t know about you, but I had a lot of fun today. So I want to keep that up. Don’t try to act like you’re my babysitter, just tag along, do your bodyguard job and help, if you can. If I ever manage to get us into real trouble, I promise dad’ll get us out again. I also promise not to do anything that’ll make it look like you’re not taking your job seriously. Does that sound okay for you?“

That sounds more than okay. A lot better than what Sam has hoped for. So he nods.

“Deal?“ Gabriel’s eyes sparkle again, and Sam kind of starts to like that look.

He smiles. “Deal.“


	5. Another Shurley

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Lucifer finally shows up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lucifer took his sweet time, but here he is.

Of course Gabriel offers to share the bed, but Sam declines and sleeps on the couch instead. That is until something wakes him. He can’t quite tell what.

He blinks. The rooms is sparsely lit by the city lights coming through the windows, but he can still see barely more than shadows. There’s a faint noise to his left though, from the direction of the door. He holds his breath.

Yes, there’s definitely someone moving. At the same time he can still hear Gabriel’s faint snoring from the direction of the bed. He feels for his weapon, but as soon as his fingers find the holster, he knows it’s empty. Shit.

A shadowy figure comes into view, pointing something at him that’s probably Sam’s gun. Double shit.

The guy makes one mistake, though. He comes too close.

Sam kicks. He hits the guy’s wrist with his foot, and the gun goes flying. The next moment, Sam catapults himself from the couch and tackles the intruder.

They end up on the floor, limbs tangled, but Sam manages to get the upper hand, pins the guy down. That’s when the lights go on.

“What the fuck?“, comes Gabriel’s sleepy voice.

Sam doesn’t turn towards him, he looks at the intruder. It’s a blonde guy, spikey hair, lots of piercings, and a spiked collar around his neck. Blue eyes meet Sam’s, and somehow they seem to pierce right through to the core of his soul. For a moment, Sam holds his breath. Damn. He’s pretty sure he never found the punk aesthetic attractive before, but something about this guy makes him glad he’s already questioning his sexuality anyway. Sam also gets the sinking feeling that he knows who this is.

“Luci?“ Gabriel’s confused question confirms it.

Now Sam looks up and he losens his grip. Nick Shurley doesn’t seem to get the message that the fight is over, though. He punches Sam in the side and shakes him off. The next moment Sam finds himself kneeling on the ground, arm twisted behind his back in a way that hurts. He curses, but doesn’t struggle.

“Let him go, Luci, he’s with me.“

“Since when do the people you bring here sleep on the couch?“ Nick sounds annoyed. He lets Sam go, though, and Sam’s shoulder stops feeling like it’s going to be dislocated any minute now.

“Since I’m his bodyguard, not whoever he brings here normally,“ Sam says, before Gabriel can say anything else. Only then he thinks about what Nick’s remark means. Is he really okay with his brother having sex with random people in his bed? Because it very much sounds like it.

Nick walks around Sam, extends a hand to help him up. He’s wearing spiked wristbands, too, and a jeans jacket over his t-shirt with tons of patches with band logos sewed on. “Sorry,“ he says. “Thought you broke in here. Gabe’s bodyguards usually get left outside.“

Sam shoots Gabriel a look that gets met with a shrug and a sheepish grin. “I always try sending them home. Some stick around anyway.“

Maybe Sam should consider himself really lucky that Gabriel is looking for a way to get into his pants.

When Sam turns back to Nick, he meets blue eyes that are in the middle of looking him up and down. A smirk is tugging on the corners of Nick’s lips. “So dad and Mike finally found someone who Gabe wants to stick around. Did they specifically hire you for your looks?“

Apparently Gabriel and Nick are the asshole side of the family. Sam’s luck that he gets to be the one to deal with both of them. And quite his luck that part of him still thinks Nick is pretty attractive anyway. He shoves that feeling away. “Want me to kick your ass again to prove that I can do my job?“

The smile blooms into a full grin. “I think I had you on your knees a moment ago.“

“Because I realized who you are.“

“Luci, be nice.“ Gabriel walks over from the direction of the bed, seemingly not giving a fuck that he’s wearing nothing but boxer shorts. He wraps his arms around his brother, and Nick turns, drawing Gabriel into a full hug.

“Why are you even here?“ Gabriel mumbles into his shoulder.

“Tour got cut short,“ Nick says. “We had to throw Lilith out for good.“

“Oh fuck.“

Nik shrugs. “We warned her. And we’ll find a replacement.“

Gabriel steps out of the hug and eyes Nick for a moment. “You’re fucking mad, are you?“

“Yes, I’m fucking mad.“ Nick’s voice is even, but there’s something in it that makes Sam shudder.

Gabriel nods. “This is Sam, by the way.“ He gestures in Sam’s direction as if he’s trying to distract his brother. “And it’s not my fault he’s sleeping on the couch. He insisted. Some bullshit about trying to stay professional.“

Sam rolls his eyes. “Total bullshit ...“

Nick laughs, his eyes on Sam again, and there’s something predatory in their blue depth. It makes Sam shiver a little.

“No,“ he says. It’s meant for himself as much as it’s meant for Nick. Apart from the fact that Nick is apparently a jerk, he’s also a son of his employer. Granted, Sam doesn’t have to guard him, that’s still no reason to make things more complicated.

Instantly, Nick looks the most innocent Sam has ever seen a grown man look. “What? I didn’t even say anything.“

“You were thinking it.“

“Gabe?“ Nick turns to his younger brother for support.

Gabriel grins. “You definitely had that look that says MINE in huge letters.“

Nick huffs. “Well, he is wearing my clothes already.”

Sam looks down at the band shirt he’s still wearing in combination with his boxer shorts. “Would you have prefered me getting glitter on everything?”

“Oh, I don’t even want to know what you did now, Gabe.“ Nick lifts both hands and takes a step back. “Fine. Sorry.” He turns to his brother. “I’m bone tired. You got some room in my bed for me?“

You have to hand it to the Shurley boys, they deal with rejection pretty well.

“Maybe, I can make some.“

“If I find half eaten gummi bears under the pillows again, I’ll kill you.“

Gabriel looks offended. “I’d never only half eat a gummi bear.“

Sam snorts.

* * *

When Sam wakes up next time, it’s day outside of the huge window front. He sits up and looks over to the bed. Nick is lying with his back to him, blanket down to his waist. It gives Sam a really good view of three pairs of wings that are tattooed on Nick’s back. They’re depicted as torn and dirt stained, flames flickering over the feathers. There’s also a snake that curls around his left arm, tail going over his shoulder, head on the back of his hand. He turns in his sleep, and Sam spies ink on his hip, too, some kind of sigil that’s half obscured by the blanket and his pants.

“That’s not fair, you know ...“

Sam’s eyes snap up and meet Nick’s blue ones. “What?“ His mouth is dry and he sounds a bit hoarse.

Nick grins. “Looking at me like that after you told me no last night.“

Sam does his best not to blush. “I was just looking at your tattoos. Sorry.“

“No, no ...“ Nick lifts the snake adorned hand. “Little children look at my tattoos all the time. This ...“ He points at Sam. “... was something else.“

No way Sam will admit that. He leans back against the backrest of the couch. “Do all the Shurley sons have an ego that big?“

Nick laughs. “No. Mike’s is even bigger.“ Then he drops his hand to the sigil on his hip, mischief sparkling in his eyes. “This is the sigil of Lucifer. Wanna see the rest of it?“

Sam ponders his answer for a moment. A too hasty No will probably just lead to Nick teasing him more. As will the Yes he kind of wants to say. After a moment he settles on: “Not if it goes too far down.“

Nick chuckles softly, then lifts his hips a little and teases the waistband of his boxers down in a way that would’ve made a professional stripper envious. Sam does his best to keep his face impassive, just looking at the tattoo, no way looking at the outline of Nick’s hipbone under his skin and the shock of blond curls that come into view for a moment, before Nick pulls his pants up again.

When Sam looks at Nick’s face again, there’s a smirk in place, and for a moment the tip of his tongue darts out, teasing at a piercing in his lower lip. Sam has to remind himself that this guy is still probably a jerk.

Thankfully, movement to his right draws Nick’s attention away from Sam. Gabriel is snuggling closer to his brother. “Are you putting on a show for Sammykins?“

“Just showing off tattoos.“

“Yeah … sure, Luci,“ Gabriel mumbles. “Don’t shake his world too much. He hasn’t even made up his mind about his sexuality yet.“ One of Gabriel’s arms snakes around Nick’s waist and pulls him closer. The whole thing looks a bit too intimate for brothers, but they’re not even real brothers anyway, and who’s Sam to judge?

Without even looking, Nick ruffles Gabriel’s hair. At the same time he raises an eyebrow at Sam as if he wants to ask: ‘Did I read you wrong?’

“It’s true,“ is all Sam says. If he’s honest with himself, the sneak peek probably even helped making progress on that front.

Before anyone can get the idea to offer further assistance though he gets up. “Anyone against me showering first?“ he asks.

Nick starts to move, but Gabriel holds him down. “Stay, pillow.” Then he turns to Sam. “No.“

* * *

When Sam comes out of the bathroom, there are his own clothes, cleaned and pressed. So this apartment building really does have a service that does overnight laundry. Rich people ...

Sam is very happy about not having to wear too short pants any more, though. Since Nick has sneaked into the bathroom as soon as Sam got out, Sam changes from his borrowed clothes into his own right next to the couch. Gabriel watches with a happy grin, but doesn’t say anything.

A while later they’re sitting on the couch and the bed with coffee and toast. Sam notices another tattoo on Lucifer’s right arm that he only sees now, because Gabriel had been lying on it before. It’s a quote: “Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven.”

Obviously, Nick’s tattoos have a theme.

“It’s a good thing you came back earlier,“ Gabriel says.

Nick shoots him a questioning look over his cup of coffee.

“I could use your help at the gala.“

That earns him a frown. “You want me at the gala? Where Mike will be, too?“

“Mikey can stay civil, if you don’t provoke him.“

“Provoking him is fun, though.“

Again Sam wonders what happened between those two.

Gabriel rolls his eyes. “I know something that’s even more fun. Finding something to bring down Dick Roman.“

Nick almost chokes on his coffee. “He’ll be there?“

Gabriel nods.

“Who’s Dick Roman?“ Sam asks.

“Big asshole,“ Lucifer explains without actually explaining anything.

“CEO of a record label.“ Gabriel’s information is a bit more helpful. “He gave The Fallen a really shitty contract.“

“That’s my band,“ Nick adds. “That contract had us do basically slave labor for a year, before we found an agent that could get us out of it.“

“There’s no way to sue him for it, so we’re looking for another way to get revenge,“ Gabriel takes over again. “Especially because he does this to people starting out all the time.“

Sam takes a sip of his coffee. “I guess glitter doesn’t cut it with this guy.“

Gabriel chuckles. “Oh no. He’ll be going down. You can help by the way.“

“Will it be illegal?“

Gabriel shrugs. “Probably.“

“In that case I’m not sure, I want to help.“

It only takes Gabriel silently lifting his eyebrow to remind Sam of the deal they shook on yesterday. Out of the corner of his eye, he can see Nick looking between them with a very curious expression on his face.

Sam sighs. “Yeah ... of course ... What do you want me to do?“

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed it. Next chapter we'll take a break from Sam's point of view and get Dean's instead.


	6. Messages in blood

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Dean does Raphaela's hair.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As promised, this chapter is from Dean's point of view.
> 
> Also for all the Dean/Michael chapters special thanks goes to my wonderful beta reader [coplins](http://archiveofourown.org/users/coplins), who's helping with them a lot, because she can write both characters better than me.

Raphaela chats excitedly all the way back to the mansion. The run-in with the asshole shop owner apparently didn’t manage to ruin the day for her. Dean finds himself smiling a lot more than he’d done in a while.

Back in the mansion he helps her carry her stuff to her room. There’s probably someone who gets paid for doing this and Dean isn’t, but he doesn’t mind. At the door to her room, Raphe stops. “Do you want to see the whole outfit?“

“Are you inviting me into your room?“ Dean isn’t sure how he feels about that. Normally, when he gets invited into a girl’s room, it’s for a different purpose.

Raphe rolls her eyes. “Sure. You’re my bodyguard, so we all trust you with my safety, right? Plus, I was part of a street gang for a while, I know how to kick people in the balls.“

“You were part of a –“

“Want to see my outfit for the gala or not?“

“Sure, why not.“ It’s not like he has plans for the night.

“Okay ... come in. Sit. I’ll be back in a minute.“

Raphe leads him into the most girly room Dean has ever seen. There’s a lot of pink, a lot of glitter and a lot of flowers. The bed has four posts and a canopy (pink of course), in one corner there’s a vanity table with hearts on the frame of the mirror. Stuffed animals are everywhere. And someone has painted _Raphaela_ in flowery script on one wall.

Considering the Shurley family’s background that Sam has told him about during breakfast this morning probably no one can blame Raphe for overcompensating a bit. If she had been thrown out by her parents like Michael and Gabriel apparently had, they sure as hell hadn’t been accepting about her claiming to be a girl.

The girl herself vanishes through a door in the far side of the room that’s either a walk in closet or a dressing room. Probably a dressing room, because rich people need an extra room for that.

Dean sits on the chair in front of the vanity table, because there’s nowhere else to sit.  
It takes a while, but then Raphaela emerges again. She’s wearing a dark green silk dress with a long flowy skirt, matching shoes and even a matching purse. She smiles shyly, and Dean gives her a broad smile and two thumbs up.

“I need to do something with my hair, too.“ She pulls on the dark curly locks.

“Pin it up?“ Dean suggest. He’s more of a man’s man, but he’s had enough girlfriends to know that’s a hairstyle a lot of women seem to like, if they want to look elegant.

Raphe’s shoulders drop, though. “I don’t know how. Aunt Amara promised to show me, but she’s always so busy ...“

Dean grins. “Today is your lucky day, then, because I know.“

Raphe’s eyes go wide. “You do?“

Kids are great. So easy to cheer up. He stands and pats the seat in front of the vanity table. “Sit. I did this for Pam all the time.“

“Pam your girlfriend?“ Raphe sits on the chair.

“No. Family friend. Dad dumped us at her place often, when we were younger. She was blind, so she needed someone to help with her hair and make-up. And Sammy always managed to hide behind some book or homework. But I’d choose doing someone’s hair over homework any time.“

Raphe giggles, and Dean sets to work.

“So ...“ he says after a while, “you were part of a gang?“ That’s still bothering him. Raphaela looks so small and cute.

“Before Gabe found me and brought me here,“ the girl confirms. “We were stealing for some asshole mostly.“ She half turns to him and grins. “Don’t worry though, I’m not gonna hurt you.“

Dean snorts.

* * *

The next morning has Sam’s room still empty, and Dean begins to worry. He can imagine Gabe as someone who likes to party hard, but it’s 8 am. Shouldn’t they be back by now?  
He texts his brother, but when he doesn’t get an answer right away, he wanders around the mansion looking for someone who can tell him where Sam might be. The mansion is fucking huge, though, and Dean gets lost twice, before he find himself in front of the door to Michael’s office.

He knocks.

“Come in.“

When Dean steps into the room, Michael looks up in surprise as if he had expected someone else.

“Sorry to bother you.“

“Is something the matter?“

“Well, yeah, I was kinda wondering where our brothers are.“

Michael smiles, and in Dean’s opinion he should definitely do that more often, because damn, that guy had screamed ‘Here!’, when the good looks had been handed out. “They stayed at Nick’s for the night. I’d say they’ll be back for lunch.“

“Nick’s?“

“There are four Shurley children. Nick is ...“ Michael pulls a face. “He moved out a while ago. He has an apartment in the city. Gabriel crashes there sometimes.“

Dean can feel his worries subsiding. “Oh. That’s good. Very–“

He doesn’t get to finish his sentence, before there’s a sharp knock on the door, then the woman that greeted them on their first day bursts in. “We have to press charges now!“

Michael sighs. “Someone painted slurs on the wall again?“

The woman nods. “But it’s not paint this time. It’s blood.“

Damn. Suddenly Dean starts to understand why the Shurley children need body guards.

“Naomi, are you sure?“ Michael asks.

“I’m as sure as I can get without having it tested. Which the police will do, if you convince your father to call them this time.“

Michael stands up from his desk. “Let me have a look.“

“I don’t know, if it’s wise for you to leave the premises right now.“

Another sigh, then Michael’s gaze lands on Dean, and he straightens up, suddenly exuding an air of authority. “Dean, I’m borrowing you from Raphaela for a moment. Come.“

His tone makes it clear that he expects his instructions to be followed. Without looking back he strides out of the room as if he’s been a rich kid used to giving orders all his life. As Dean hurries to catch up, there’s a faint tingling sensation running through his body. He was wrong. The guy is even hotter, when he doesn’t smile.

They leave the premises through the huge iron gate, and Naomi leads them along the outside wall for a while, before Dean sees it. It’s three letters painted in dripping red. They read: DIE.

“Friendly,“ he comments.

Michael shrugs. “It’s the books and the charity events and the things father says in public. Some people don’t like his opinions.“ He steps closer and looks at the message through narrowed eyes. “I’m not sure. It could just be red paint.“

Movement in the corner of Dean’s eye catches his attention. It’s a broad street with more rich people’s mansions left and right, so someone walking in their direction is easy to spot. Dean watches the guy for a moment. The clothes don’t quite look expensive enough for the neighbourhood, but maybe it’s someone working here or some rich guy that doesn’t want the whole world to know that he has money.

The next moment though the guy pulls something from underneath his jacket. Shit. Adrenalin rushes through Dean’s body as his training takes over.

He turns to Michael, shields him with his own body, pushes him away from the threat. Dean feels something hit his back, then hears rapid footsteps vanishing in the distance.

He wonders when the pain will set in, but it doesn’t come. A few heartbeats later sounds and images rush back, when his mind stops narrowing everything down on the potential threat. 

He realizes that he has crowded Michael against the wall, faces only inches apart. For a moment he can do nothing but stare into hazel green eyes. He hears his own heartbeat loud in his ears, mixed with ragged breaths from both of them.

The tip of Michael’s tongue darts out, licking his lips, and for a split second he looks like he’s going to lean forward. Then he visibly pulls himself together and smirks. “He’s gone now, Dean.“

Dean nods slowly, reluctantly takes a step back.

“You got hit with something, didn’t you?“

“Yes, sir.“ Like last time the ‘sir’ just slips from his lips, an automatic reaction to Michael’s tone of voice. Like last time, Michael’s smile instantly goes a lot more pleased. Dean thinks there’s some kind of spark in the other’s eyes, too, but he isn’t sure.

“Turn around.“

Dean does so without thinking.

Michael makes an amused sound. “It’s just an egg. You saved me from having an egg thrown at me. Thank you.“

Dean heaves a sigh of relieve, the last bits of tension leaving him. When he turns to Michael again, he gives the other man a lopsided grin. “My pleasure, sir.“

This time there’s no doubt. The way Michael looks at him gets more heated. He fucking likes the ‘sir’. Dean wonders how long he’ll have to call Michael that, before the guy snaps and makes the first move. Because if he wants to keep his job, it’s probably wise, if he isn’t the one to take the first step in this.

There’s no harm in baiting though.

Michael turns to Naomi for a moment. “I’ll talk to father about calling the police.“

“Thank you,“ she says.

He nods and turns back to Dean. “Come on, let’s go back in.“

“Yes, sir.“

This time Michael catches on that something changed. He gives Dean a long lingering look, before he turns away and motions to him to follow.

This’ll be fun.


	7. Cloak Room Shenanigans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which they're up to no good and there is a kiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back to Sam's point of view. The day of the gala arrives.

When Sam and Gabriel get back by noon, police has roped of a section of the outer wall and there are paparazzi almost leaning over the crime scene tape to get the best picture. Gabriel pulls a face. “Vultures.“

They stay in for the next few days, which gives Sam and Dean a lot of free time that they spend exploring the mansion. There’s gym in the cellar and a pool in the back. There’s also an actual ball room with chandelier and all that. That’s where the gala is going to be held. They only leave the premise once, when Naomi takes them for another shopping trip, this time because when they’re watching Gabriel and Raphaela during the gala, they have to fit in. So they both get a suit that costs more than they earn in a month.

They don’t see Chuck Shurley even once. When Sam asks Gabriel what that’s about, the answer he gets is that Chuck is writing, which sometimes means he doesn’t leave his room for days.

Then the evening of the gala arrives and with it the guests.

Sam and Dean stick to Gabriel and Raphaela, so there isn’t much time for looking except for assessing if someone might be a threat or not. Sam’s pretty sure though that he spots more than just a few celebrities. He also sees Chuck for the first time, who managed to look rumpled, even in a well fitted suit.

Technically, Nick is one of the celebrities, and he’s not hard to miss. He hasn’t bothered with a suit, instead he wears the most threadbare jeans Sam has ever seen. Sam’s pretty sure he can spot the curve of Nick’s ass through one of the holes in the back. Not that he’s looking or anything.

And even though Nick is wearing a white button down shirt, the first few buttons are undone. A tie is hanging loosely around his neck, pierced with safety pins. On top of it, there’s a black leather jacket with lots and lots of spikes. And the spiked collar of course.

Michael gives him a disapproving look, but keeps his distance. Gabriel and Raphaela hug him, and Nick compliments Raphaela’s dress. For a moment, his gaze lingers on Sam, and he lifts an approving eyebrow at the suit. Sam fights not to smile.

Then Gabriel pulls him aside. “I’ve seen Dick come in a minute ago. Here’s the battle plan ...“

* * *

An hour later step one of the battle plan has Sam and Gabriel sneaking out of the ballroom and hurrying down the hallways to a room that has been declared cloak room for the night. It’s locked, but that’s no big obstacle for Sam’s lockpicking skills. While he squats down in front of the door, Gabriel makes appreciative noises.

“Tell me you’re not staring at my ass.“

“I’m not staring at your ass,“ Gabriel says in a tone of voice that says he definitely is.

“Stop it.“

“What, you want me to stop not staring at your ass? Well, if you insist.“

Sam sighs. “I made that one too easy, didn’t I?“

“Yup. Low hanging fruit, Samshine.“

A look over his shoulder shows Sam that Gabriel is actually not looking at him at all though. Instead he’s watching the corridors. More sensible than he’s making people believe. Sam wonders for a moment how much more of the flirting is nothing but an act, but this is not the time or place for deep thoughts. He concentrates on the lock again.

Not long and the door clicks open. He stands up and waves Gabriel in with a mocking bow.

Gabriel steps in with a grin. “Stand watch.“

Sam does as he’s told, standing inside the room, but right next to the door, while Gabriel goes looking for Dick Roman’s coat. When he finds it, he frisks all the pockets, looking for some clue as to where hitting him well hurt the most. He comes up with nothing but a few business cards though. He looks at them with furrowed brows. “Publishing houses? Since when does Dick do publishing deals?“

Sam shrugs. “Maybe branching out?“

Gabriel looks at the cards again as if he’s trying to memorize them, then he puts them back.

That’s the moment Sam hears footsteps drawing near. “Someone’s coming.“

“If everything’s gone well, it’s Luci.“ Gabriel still closes the door, and Sam holds his breath while they listen and wait.

“If it isn’t Luci and they come in here,“ Gabriel whispers, “I’m going to kiss you. No one will ask what we’re doing here then. They’ll probably even forget that the door should’ve been locked.“

Sam’s heart is beating too fast already to actually process this information. “If you make me lose my job –“

“You won’t. Relax.“

There’s a knock at the door, two fast ones and another after a longer pause.

“That’s the signal.“ Gabriel sounds almost disappointed. He opens the door.

Behind it Nick comes into view, brand new iPhone in one hand and a big grin on his face. “I started a fight and grabbed Dick’s phone, while I pretended to try and shove him into the buffet.“

Gabriel grins. “Perfect.“

“Mike threw me out, though, so I won’t be able to put it back.“

“We can just put it in his coat pocket. He’ll think he forgot it there. Get in.“

That’s how Gabriel ends up sitting on the floor of the cloak room with a phone he’s trying to hack, while Sam and Nick stand watch on both sides of the door.

Gabriel curses softly. “Come on, how’s his pin not 1234? Everybody without an imagination uses that as a pin.“

“Try the year his company was founded,“ Nick says. “He’s so fucking proud of that.“

There’s a moment of silence, then a soft: “Yes! I’m in.“

Sam can’t help but smile. He has to admit, he missed the thrill of this, of doing something forbidden. It’s better to make an honest living, so much is for sure. Dean and him, they’d decided together to not go down the path their father had led them on. Sam hasn’t given up on going to college one day. And Dean ... He won’t admit it, but Sam has seen how he is with kids. With the right person, he will happily settle down for sure, white picket fence and all. And you can’t have that while you have to keep moving constantly, because otherwise someone will catch on to the credit card scams and cons and burglaries.

So yes, honest is better, but actually pulling something like this off, stealing someone’s phone, hacking it, putting it back without anyone noticing ... that’s a high that’s hard to come by through other means.

Footsteps on the other side of the door still make Sam flinch. “Shit.“

He throws Gabriel a look. The guy’s leaning against the wall in a corner that can only be seen, if you actually step into the room. “Keep whoever that is distracted.“ He sounds preoccupied. “Almost done.“

Nick grins and takes a step towards Sam. “I have an idea.“

“Let me guess,“ Sam says. “You’re going to kiss me.“

Those two are a menace, really. And this time the idea actually registers. He finds himself staring at Nick’s mouth, finds himself wondering what kissing someone with a piercing will feel like.

“I already explained that trick,“ Gabriel quips from his corner. Without looking up he scoots farther into the shadows of three chairs that have several coats hanging over them. Good.

“Well, I wasn’t planning on stopping at just explaining it.“ Nick takes another step and crowds Sam against the wall. “This has to be a convincing make out session, if we want to scare that person away, okay?“ He actually waits for Sam to answer. As if Sam can afford saying no and have them all get caught. To his surprise he finds he doesn’t want to say no anyway. It’s kind of nice to have an excuse to try this.

“Less talking.“ He grabs Nick’s tie and pulls him closer.

The door handle gets worked in exactly the same moment Nick’s lips touch Sam’s. At first it’s just that. Sam can feel the small ring of Nick’s piercing against his lower lip, and he angles his head a bit to make it look more like they’re actually in the middle of something passionate. Nick takes that as an invitation. His tongue darts out. So that’s what he meant with convincing? Okay, Sam won’t be the one to chicken out. He nips at the tip of Nick’s tongue, then sends his own in search for the piercing. He can feel one of Nick’s hands slide into his hair, and he places his own on Nick’s hips.

Out of the corner of his eye he sees the door open, someone moves to step in – and freezes at the threshold.

“Mr. Shurley?“ It’s a girl’s voice, one of the maids probably, none that Sam recognizes. Which means she might not recognize him, too. Very good. Let her think Nick is making out with one of the guests, not with his brother’s bodyguard.

Nick breaks the kiss to look at her. “Mr. Shurley is my father or my stuck up older brother. And you’re interrupting something here, in case you haven’t noticed.“

Probably doesn’t take much effort for him to play the arrogant asshole. He’s doing a pretty good job.

Sam doesn’t want to give the girl the opportunity to get a look at his face, so he doesn’t turn like Nick does. Instead he ducks his head down as if he’s going to kiss along the side of Nick’s neck. Instantly, Nick tilts his head back a little as if in invitation. “Convincing“, he reminds Sam softly.

It’s a matter of pride to not half-ass it after that. Sam carefully nips and kisses along the line of Nick’s throat down to the spiked collar, and he’s pretty sure the way Nick shudders in response isn’t an act.

“I’m ... I’m sorry, Mr. Shurley. Someone gave me their coat ... I ...“

Nick extends a hand in her direction. “We’ll take care of that. You can go now.“

The girl hesitates. As if trying to drive the point home that she’s intruding, Nick presses closer to Sam and grinds against him. Fuck! Sam bites back a gasp. This has gone way too far for a simple distraction, though he has to admit it’s working pretty well so far. That’s why he lets one of his hands slide down to Nick’s ass.

“I’m not very fond of an audience.“ Nick sounds a bit hoarse, and Sam takes some satisfaction from that. “Join or leave.“

That’s too much for the girl. She drops the coat and backs out of the room. The door closes with a bang.

For a few seconds they all hold their breath and listen to the receding footsteps. Then Gabriel pokes his head up from behind the chairs. “If you two just want to keep going, don’t mind me.“

That breaks the spell. Sam clears his throat and straightens up, and Nick takes a step back. Nick’s blue eyes are glowing with the thrill of the situation, and Sam has to admit, it makes him even more hot. Then he smirks. “Made up your mind about your sexuality yet?“

Yup, he’s pretty good at playing the arrogant asshole, because he is one. For a moment Sam thinks about saying straight and playing it like kissing Nick was disgusting, but he finds that he doesn’t want to. He doesn’t want to act like he’s ashamed for what he feels. So he holds Nick’s gaze, while he tries to ignore the half-boner in his pants. “Yeah, I’ll have to go with bi, I guess.“

“I call dibs!“ Gabriel exclaims from his corner.

Nick laughs. “Too late, I already kissed him.“

“He’s not food that’s yours, when you lick it.“

Sam rolls his eyes. “Very mature, you two.” He’s mostly amused, though. Yes, there’s a bit of a hungry look in Nick’s eyes, and he’s pretty sure Gabriel’s flirting will get worse from now on, but he’s also sure they won’t do anything he doesn’t want and they probably don’t mean half of what they say. If he looks at their actions only, they’re half as bad. Nick has waited for Sam to tell him that kissing was okay in a situation where they technically didn’t have time for niceties, and Gabriel has turned down a pretty explicit offer. There is a gap between what they say and what they do, and contrary to most people it’s working to their favor.

“Can we get out of here now?“ Sam asks.

“Yeah, yeah, don’t get your panties in a twist, Samster, I’m done.“ Gabriel gets up and lifts a chip card between index and middle finger. “Made a copy of all the data on his phone.“ He pockets the card with a proud grin, then he wipes the phone down with the hem of his shirt so that there won’t be any fingerprints on it, and slips it into Dick Roman’s coat pocket.

“Let’s go have a look at what we found.“


	8. Something Stolen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which several discoveries are made.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As you probably all know by now, if Dick Roman makes an appearance in a fic, I'm obligated by Supernatural law to make at least one dick joke (there will be more than one through the course of the story though). The one in this chapter comes curtsey to ou8smileydeath, because of a comment they made on last chapter that made me giggle like crazy and run to add a few lines here. Thank you!

They retreat back to Gabriel’s room. It’s not what Sam expected. To be honest, Sam isn’t sure what he expected, but so much tech definitely wasn’t on the list. Sam can count at least five computers, though it’s hard to tell, because they’re in different states of disassembly. Some of them seem to be pretty old. There are three screens of different sizes on the desk, one of them showing people playing computer games in some kind of tournament or something. There’s a laptop and different tablets scattered in front of the screens, and Sam sees a handful of different phones, some still with actual buttons, no touchscreen.

A shelf next to the desk holds the biggest hoard of candy Sam has ever seen outside of a candy store. On the other side of the room there’s a bed similar to the ‘nest’ Nick has. A calendar on the wall above it shows scarcely clad men with cute animals. All in all the room is a weird combination of things that’d already be weird on their own.

Gabriel gets the laptop and stretches out on the bed with it, propped up on his elbows. Nick snuggles next to him, also lying on his belly, watching the screen, while the data from the chip card gets copied to the hard drive of the laptop. Sam takes the chair by the desk, glad both men are too distracted to invite him to join them on the bed.

There are astonishingly few boundaries between them though. While Gabriel works, Nick snakes an arm around his waist and puts his chin on his brother’s shoulder to get the best view of the screen.

Gabriel shrugs him away just once. “Stop breathing in my ear.“

After that Nick seems to find a position that prevents that without being any less close.  
Two grown men snuggling like that shouldn’t be such a nice view, Sam thinks. Still he finds his gaze drifting to take in all of it, and it might have lingered a bit on the curve of Gabriel’s ass under the dark fabric of his pants, and the ... Oh fuck, there really is part of Nick’s ass visible through the holes in his jeans.

When Sam looks up again, he meets Nick’s blue eyes. The punk smirks. “Care to join us?“

“I’m good.“ Sam leans back in his chair.

Nick shrugs and turns towards the screen again. “Oh, look, wouldn’t have pegged him for the selfie type.”

Gabriel sniggers. “Dick pics.”

That makes Nick snort in laughter, too. So very mature those two. Though Sam finds himself grinning with them.

Suddenly Gabriel’s face turns completely serious. “Get your ass over here, Sammykins,“ he waves Sam over without looking up from the screen. “You want to see this.“

Curious Sam gets up. He sits on the bed and peers over the one of Gabriel’s shoulders Nick doesn’t occupy. There’s a picture of Dean on the screen.

“Huh.“

It looks like it’s been taken this evening. Dean’s standing next to Raphe who’s talking to a woman Sam doesn’t recognize.

“Why did Dick Roman sneak a picture of my brother?“

“That’s your brother?“ Nick asks. “Lucky gene pool.“

Gabriel sniggers. “Told ya.“

“No seriously.“ Sam leans forward a bit. It really doesn’t look like the picture was taken with Dean’s knowledge. He’s not even remotely looking at the camera.

“There are other pictures of people from the gala, too,“ Gabriel says. “All of them quite attractive. Maybe Dick was doing a creepy version of talent scouting.“

“Wouldn’t put it beyond him,“ Nick says.

Sam relaxes a little. Creepy talent scouting is still less worrying than other options he could think of.

After a moment there’s a hand rubbing his back, and when he turns a little he sees it’s Gabriel’s. “Don’t worry. Whatever Dick’s trying, we have your back.“

To Sam’s surprise that’s actually reassuring to hear.

“He must’ve missed you though,“ Gabriel adds.

That’s also kind of reassuring.

Nick sniggers. “Gabe, that was the worst kind of sneaky compliment you could’ve tried.“

Gabriel huffs. “You stole the thing with the kiss from me.“

“You learned that trick from me in the first place.“

Gabriel’s elbow finds it’s way between Nick’s ribs, and there’s a bit of a scuffle. Sam watches with a grin. They may be jerks most of the time, but he kind of starts to like them.

After a while, Gabriel gets back to digging through Dick Roman’s data, especially his contacts.

“Metatron!“ he exclaims.

Nick leans closer so that his lips are almost brushing Gabriel’s ear. “Holy fuck! Those two know each other? Are they trying to found the league of extraordinary assholes or what?“

“Who’s Metatron?“ Sam asks.

“Marv Metatron,“ Gabriel explains. “Really shitty writer.“

“Thinks he’s better than father,“ Nick adds. “Tried to steal from him once, though.“

“If he’s a writer,“ Sam says, “maybe there’s a connection between him and the business cards of publishing houses we found?“

Gabriel taps his chin. “Maybe.“

“You think Dick’s trying to become a literary agent?“ Nick asks.

Gabriel shrugs. “Maybe. Let’s go through the rest.“

The rest proves significantly less interesting. There are no text messages between Dick Roman and Marv Metatron, only a few logs of calls.

After a while Nick gets bored and untangles himself from his brother. He crawls around Gabriel until he sits next to Sam. There’s the ghost of a smile tugging at the corners of his lips. “So, when do you get off duty tonight?“

Sam meets Nick’s blue eyes. He doesn’t have to stay professional around this Shurley brother, does he? And the new discovery that he’s into men too is kind of exciting. If Nick volunteers for experimenting, he won’t complain. After a moment he puts on a cocky smile. “Why do you think you need to know that?“

Nick grins. “I think I can tell, when someone actually enjoys making out with me.“

Sam leans closer. “I don’t know. Maybe it was just the thrill of the situation.“

“Want to try again? To be sure?“ Nick’s so close now Sam can feel his breath on his face.  
And it’s not like Sam needs to have an eye on Gabriel right now. After all, he’s in his own room. Can’t be much safer. Sam closes the rest of the distance between them.

It’s pretty obvious pretty fast that Nick has held back last time. He doesn’t now. He slides one hand into Sam’s hair and licks his mouth open slowly, tasting every inch of him. At first Sam tries to take control of the kiss like he’s used to with girls, but Nick doesn’t let him. He fists his fingers in Sam’s hair and pulls Sam’s head back a little, conquering his mouth. And it feels good to just let go and let someone else take the lead.

By the time they separate again, Sam’s half hard in his pants.

“So ...“ Nick’s voice dips a bit lower. “When do you get off duty tonight?“

Smug bastard. Still, Sam finds himself saying: “You’ll have to ask your brother.“

When Nick turns to Gabriel, so does Sam. Gabriels whiskey colored eyes are already on them, pupils dilated a bit. He has to pull himself together visibly, before he puts on a smirk. “Depends ... do I get in or not?“

Nick shoots Sam a questioning look that makes Sam lift an eyebrow. “You’re actually considering that?“

Nick shrugs. “Gabe and me shared in the past.“

Oh great. Sam isn’t sure, if he wanted to know that. With his luck he’ll dream about it tonight. “I’m still not starting something with the guy I’m paid to protect,“ he insist though.

“In that case ...“ Gabriel’s eyes twinkle mischievously. “I think I’ll go back to the gala and stay til the end. No need to leave early, don’t you think?“

Nick groans. “Great, thanks for the support.“

“Love you too, big bro.“

* * *

The gala passes faster than Sam expected. He isn’t sure, if Nick’s going to wait for him or not, since he isn’t allowed in the ballroom any more after Michael threw him out. So Sam just concentrates on doing his job and figures he’ll see what the rest of the evening brings soon enough.

After all the guests are gone and Gabriel decides to fucking finally retreat to his room it’s past midnight and Sam’s feet hurt from all the standing around. Still, when Gabriel opens the door, Nick is there on his bed in front of the laptop, probably sifting through Dick Roman’s data again and chewing on a sour stripe. When he sees them, he closes the laptop and smiles. “Sammy.“

Okay, he must have gotten bored at some point, because someone drew a big anarchy symbol on the back of the laptop with permanent marker.

“Nice to see you too, big bro,“ Gabriel says.

“Oh, come on. Don’t be like that.“

Gabriel huffs. “Stop eating my candy and take my bodyguard and his damned professionalism to his room, if you have to. I’m gonna get some sleep.“

Looks like Gabriel isn’t taking rejection that well after all.

“If this is going to start a fight, I’m going to my room alone,“ Sam says. Part of the point of staying professional is to not make spending so much time with Gabriel awkward later after all.

Before any of the Shurley brothers can say anything, there are shouts and raised voices from deeper inside the mansion. Nick and Gabriel share a look, then they hurry past Sam in the direction of the commotion. Sam follows.

A few corridors later they run into Raphe.

“What’s up?“ Gabriel asks.

Raphe shrugs. “I think someone stole dad’s manuscript or something like that.“

* * *

As it turns out, it wasn’t stolen, it was destroyed. Chuck shows them the ashes that are left from where someone burned it in the middle of his office. There’s a soot stain on the marble floor.

He pulls on his already ruffled hair. “I’ll never keep my deadline now!“

“Don’t you have a backup?“ Michael asks.

Chuck points at the typewriter with both hands. “It’s not a computer file. It’s text on paper. I didn’t think I needed one. It’s not like I can accidently delete it!“

“You can use this as a PR thing.“ Gabriel plucks the sour stripe from Nick’s mouth and takes a bite. Nick looks offended, but lets him. “Tell the press someone didn’t want your manuscript to be published. Will make it look more interesting.“

“That’s ...“ Chuck scratches his head. “That’s actually a good idea. It doesn’t change the fact that I have to write all of it again.“

Raphe pats his arm in sympathy, and he smiles at his daughter.

“And it doesn’t answer the question who destroyed it.“ Michael looks at Nick with narrowed eyes.

“Don’t look at me like that!“ Nick protests. “Do you really think I’d do something like that?“

“I don’t know what you’d do and what you won’t do any more.“

Over the head of the brothers Dean catches Sam’s eyes. Sam’s pretty sure he’s trying to convey with a look that they should stay out of this, and he agrees.

“For fuck’s sake, Mike! Lilith made her own decisions, and I don’t like them any more than you do!“

Is that the same Lilith that got thrown out of Nick’s band? Sam really wants to know what happened now.

“Please!“ Chuck lifts both hands. “No fighting here or one of you has to go.“

“Don’t worry, I’ll go.“ Nick half turns to the door. “You don’t have to throw me out again. Gabe, meet me at your room. I have some ideas.“

With that he storms off.

“I never threw you out!“ Chuck calls after him. “I love you and I hope you know that!“

There’s no answer except for receding footsteps in the hallway. Gabriel throws Michael a accusatory look, and the oldest Shurley brother presses his lips together and pretends to stare at the soot stain on the floor.

No one stays long after that. Dean nods to Sam, before they separate, and Sam trails after Gabriel again on the way back to his room.

In front of the door Gabriel stops and turns to him. “Go to bed, Samshine.“

Sam hesitates. “You’re going to plan something, aren’t you? You think there’s a connection between Dick Roman maybe trying to become a literary agent and the destroyed manuscript.“

Gabriel nods. “Luci and me will come up with a plan. We’ll let you know tomorrow. You look like you could use some sleep.“

Yes, it’s been a long day. Still, Sam isn’t sure, if he should leave those two to scheming alone.

“I promise, we won’t do anything stupid without you,“ Gabriel adds with a grin.

“Well, that’s reassuring.“

Gabriel laughs, then he suddenly turns serious again. “One more thing.“

“Yes?“

Gabriel makes a sign for Sam to bend down to his level. When Sam does, he brushes a strand of hair from Sam’s face to look him in the eyes, leaving a slightly tingling trail on Sam’s skin. Sam curses inwardly. How is it even possible for him to have a thing for both Shurley brothers? It’s not fair.

“You’re gorgeous and I’m fucking jealous of Luci that he got to kiss you. But if you want to get your brains fucked out by him, go ahead. It’s your decision, I won’t hold it against you or him. It won’t make your job harder or anything. He deserves something nice.“

“That’s ...“ Sam starts. Then he sees the twinkle in Gabriel’s eyes and he knows there’s more coming.

“I will use it to relentlessly tease both of you, though.“

“Great, thanks ...“

Gabriel grins. “You’re welcome.“


	9. Scheming

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which there are some more disturbing news, but also a plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a bit of possessiveness creeping into this story, which I always expect from Lucifer, but not as much from Gabriel. It fits though, I think.

Sam gets up late the next morning. He stumbles into the kitchen and finds Dean sitting there with a big cup of coffee. They always eat their breakfast in the kitchen, where all the staff spends their breaks, too. Now all the maids and the gardener have probably already gone to work. The Shurley family eats elsewhere. So Sam and Dean have the big table to themselves.

Sam greets his brother with a grunt and pours himself an equally big cup of coffee. They sit in silence for a while.

Sam can’t help staring at Dean though. He wants to know why Dick Roman sneaked a picture of his brother. For a moment he thinks about telling Dean, but then he’d have to explain what Gabriel, Nick and he had been up to yesterday, and he really doesn’t want to go there.

“What?” Dean asks.

Sam shakes his head. “Who do you think destroyed the manuscript?”

Dean shrugs. “Looks like a lot of people don’t like what Chuck’s writing. Too progressive or whatever, at least that’s what Michael told me. I’d look for someone who also likes to write DIE on the outer walls with blood.”

“It wasn’t blood.”

The voice comes from the door. When Sam turns towards it, there’s Gabriel leaning in the doorframe.

“Wasn’t?” Dean asks.

“Nope. Police called this morning. Was just paint.”

That’s a relief. It means the people they’re dealing with aren’t as violent as they thought. “Makes the job less dangerous, I guess.”

Gabriel smiles. “Yup. Anyway, I’ve been looking for you, Samshine. Meet me in my room, when you’re done with breakfast, will you?”

With that he’s gone again.

Dean lifts an eyebrow. “Kinda bossy for someone that short, isn’t he?”

“Better than flirting.”

“Hate the job already?”

Sam shakes his head. “It’s alright, Dean.” Yeah, okay, technically Gabriel is blackmailing him to help with things that are on the wrong side of legal, but it could definitely be worse. He drains his cup as fast as he can though. “But I should get going, before they decide waiting for me is too much trouble.”

Dean grins. “One could think you’re the one guarding the teenager.”

“Fits the mental age, I’d say. Also, at the moment he’s taking advice from his punk brother, who apparently ‘earned’ the name Lucifer.”

Dean laughs. “Have fun.”

“Thanks, jerk.”

“Bitch.”

* * *

“Come in!” Gabriel’s voice comes from inside his room at Sam’s knocking. So Sam pushes the door open.

Apparently Nick spent the night, because he’s sitting on the bed wearing his now slightly more rumpled clothes from yesterday. He lost the tie though, and as Sam enters, he sets a guitar aside he’s been playing on. That’s a pity, because Sam would’ve liked to hear him play.

Gabriel’s sitting in the chair in front of his desk. One of the screens is showing the news, muted though, the other two have various files open on them.

“Samwise! Close the door!”

Sam does, and Gabriel’s smile gets wider. “So, your dad was a burglar, eh?” he starts without any preamble.

Instantly, Sam shoots Nick a look, but Nick just grins. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell Mike for sure.” He pats a spot on the mattress next to him. “Have a seat.”

“Please tell me you’re not planning a break-in somewhere.” Sam walks towards the bed, but he doesn’t sit. All of a sudden he’s too worried for that.

“I could tell you that,” Gabriel says, “but I’d have to lie.”

Oh great. “Dick Roman?” he asks.

“Who else?” Nick says. “So your dad really was a burglar?”

Sam shrugs. “Among other things.”

“And Gabe says you’re good with alarm systems. Ever tried disarming a really good one? I mean the rich people kind of thing, not the middle class poor excuse for security.” Nick’s eyes are basically glowing. He looks at Sam with a completely new kind of interest. Sam kind of likes it, though he wishes it would’ve been brought on by something else.

“Once. I know the theory. But listen … we really shouldn’t …” He knows it’s useless, but he has to try.

Gabriel lifts a finger. “Yes we should. We tried everything else. I spent all night hacking into his e-mail server just to discover that there are zero mails between him and Metatron. You know that thing dad has for his typewriter? Apparently dear Marv is even worse. He still writes letters.” The utter disgust on Gabriel’s face, when he says that, is almost funny. “I found a mail to someone else where Dick mentions as much. He really tries posing as his agent, at least for his recent project. Some kind of collaboration with a band.”

“I’m pretty sure no one would write anything incriminating in a letter,” Sam protests.

“No,” Nick confirms. “But they’re also talking via phone. We missed our easy chance to tap Dick’s cellphone yesterday. Now the plan is as follows: We steal his phone again and Gabe does some techno magic so we can listen in to his calls.”

“We don’t have to break into his house for that!”

Gabriel nods. “Gold star for paying attention, Samsquatch. But we want to tap his landline, too. Since they’re so old fashioned they probably still have fond memories of their pet dinosaurs from when they were younger, chances are good there is one that’s in frequent use.”

“So,” Nick says. “Are you up for it? I’m good with locks, you’ll only have to do the alarm system. We’ll be in and out in minutes.”

Sam sighs and looks at Gabriel, who shoots him a grin. It’s not like he has a choice. Before he can say anything though, Nick’s phone buzzes. He digs it from his pocket and answers it. “Crowley!” He motions to them that this will take a while and gets up to walk towards the door. “Yes, I was trying to get a hold of you. We sorted through our shit and Balthazar can take over Lilith’s parts. We want to play again, can you …”

With that he’s through the door and closes it behind him.

Sam sends Gabriel a questioning look.

“That’s his agent. Dick doesn’t exactly live in the neighbourhood, so we’re going on a road trip, and we figured, why not use the tour bus and have a few gigs along the way?”

Oh course, leave it to the Shurley boys to think about how to make a break-in the most fun.

“Nick doesn’t know I don’t have a choice in this, does he?” Sam asks.

Gabriel smiles. “Hey, I promised to keep your secret, so I do.”

Sam huffs. “You’re such a saint.”

“Samshine …” Gabriel beckons him over, and Sam walks around the bed, until he stands in front of the shorter man. Currently even more shorter, because he’s sitting. Gabriel tilts his head back to look up at Sam and lowers his voice a little to make sure Nick on the other side of the door doesn’t hear them. “Listen, I’m not a complete asshole and I know this is risky. If you absolutely don’t want any part in this, all I’ll ask for is that you show Luci how to deal with the alarm system and turn a blind eye to us sneaking away for maybe an hour.”

Sam bites his lower lip. “If you sneak away and something happens to you, I’ll still be in trouble.” Not to mention that he’ll always feel that it’s his fault, if something happened to Gabriel, and blackmail and annoying flirting aside, he really starts to like the guy.

“Yeah, but Mikey won’t hold it against you, if I manage to shake you just once. No one expects you to stay alert 24/7.”

It’s a nice and easy way out Gabriel’s offering him there, but the more Sam thinks about it, the less comfortable he feels with it. This is his damn job, if he starts not doing it well on purpose, what’s the point?

“There’s something else, though,” Gabriel says, picking up on Sam’s hesitation. He turns his chair towards the desk and brings up the picture of Dean that Dick Roman took yesterday. “There’s a file attached to this by now,” he explains. “And I checked the other pictures again. Most of them aren’t random guests, they’re people working for us or people with a close connection to us. If the manuscript hadn’t been already destroyed yesterday, I’d say Dick is looking for someone he can bribe or blackmail into doing exactly something like that.”

Sam leans on the backrest of Gabriel’s chair to get a better look at the screen. “So maybe the manuscript wasn’t destroyed courtesy to Roman, he was just thinking about doing something similar?”

Dean’s picture takes up half of the screen, the other half is his file. Sam skims it and gets a sinking feeling in his stomach, when he discovers that Dick Roman already dug up information about their father.

Gabriel shrugs. “I don’t know. I’m still pretty sure it was either him or Metatron, and it looks like they’re working together.” He half turns to look at Sam, then back at the screens. “Don’t worry about your body guard licence, by the way.”

“What?”

“You’re worrying that Dick’ll find out your licence is fake, right?”

Now that Gabriel mentions it, that’d be the worst thing Sam can imagine happening right now. Can the universe give him a break, please? “No, I like being blackmailed,” he snarks.

Gabriel laughs. “Well, don’t worry.” He turns all the way now, smug expression on his face. He stretches in his seat like a cat. “You know, I like being the only one who has blackmail material on you. You’re mine now, and I plan on keeping you, Sammy. So I took the liberty to fix your licence.”

Few statements have managed to invoke such conflicting feelings in Sam. For a moment he’s torn between what to react to first, then he decides that he should set some boundaries, before Gabriel gets used to strolling beyond. He bends forward and places both hands on the armrests of Gabriel’s chair, boxing him in. “I’m not your property and it’s Sam, not Sammy.”

Gabriel smirks. “So you don’t want to know how I fixed your licence?”

The guy is unbelievable. Sam rolls his eyes without straightening up. “How did you fix it?”

“Well …” Gabriel stretches in his chair again, bringing his face closer to Sam’s. “A licence like that, there should be information about it in certain databases. I can see that you tried to implement that, but you missed a few. I added your information to those you weren’t in yet and made the rest look more like the real thing.”

Oh, that’s actually useful and kind of nice. Sam locks gaze with those whiskey colored eyes and feels part of his anger about Gabriel calling him his melt away. “Thanks … I guess …”

“You’re welcome. So, do you want to help us find out what Dick’s planning to do about your brother among other things?”

Okay, yes, that’s a very good reason to help with the break-in. Sam sighs. “Alright. Count me in.”

Gabriel grins. “I knew you were up to it.”

“Did you change your mind about starting something with my little bro?” Nick’s voice comes from the door.

It makes Sam realize that he’s still hovering over Gabriel’s chair, and he straightens up, maybe a bit too fast. Gabriel sniggers, while Nick strolls over to them, putting an arm around Sam in a possessive gesture.

“No, I didn’t.” Sam leans into the embrace. Gabriel wants to call him his? That calls for a little reminder that Sam makes his own decisions. He can feel Nick’s body press against him from behind, and he tilts his head to the side, a clear invitation. A moment later Nick’s teeth scrape over his skin and make him gasp. Of course Nick has to use teeth instead of just placing normal kisses. It’s a bit more than Sam has bargained for, but it’s damn good.

Gabriel leans back in his chair, pupils widening a bit. For a moment he just watches them, then he clears his throat. “Sam’s in,” he informs Nick.

“Good,” Nick purrs against Sam’s skin. “Crowley’s working on getting us gigs, and the band is ready to go by tomorrow. So everything’s set up.”

Gabriels nods, eyes following Nick’s hand that’s started sneaking under the hem of Sam’s shirt. “Time to start packing, then.”

They all know none of them needs half a day to pack their things.

“Or at least,” Gabriel adds, “get out of my room pronto, if you don’t plan on giving me a show.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's one more Sam chapter now (a smutty one). After that comes another Dean chapter.
> 
> And I swear Gabriel won't be left out forever.


	10. Pillow Talk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which there's sex and we learn more about Lilith.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter comes early, because by Thursday I'll be sitting in a plane traveling around half the world.
> 
> This chapter is also mostly porn. I don't know, if I have to give any warnings. It's just frotting and blowjobs, no actual penetrative sex. As always with this kind of chapter, all the thanks go to my wonderful beta reader [coplins](http://archiveofourown.org/users/coplins) for giving me the courage to actually post it.

Sam leads the way through the halls of the mansion, trying to get Nick to keep his hands by himself at least a few more minutes.

“Did Gabe annoy you?” Nick asks, when they’re almost at Sam’s room.

“Why do you ask?”

“The posturing that you did there, it’s either sexual or aiming to intimidate.”

Observant. Sam shrugs. “I guess he did. He likes to do that.”

Nick laughs. Then they’re through the door. Sam has barely time to close it, before Nick shoves him against it, and then he’s the one boxed in. The kiss they share is demanding and hungry and leaves Sam breathless.

“Let me get something straight,” Nick says after they separate.

Sam huffs a laugh. “I don’t think anything about this situation is straight.” And he probably just gave away how nervous he is, making stupid jokes like this.

It gets him an eyeroll. Sam reaches for the buttons of Nick’s shirt, but Nick grabs his wrists and pins them against the door. Fuck, this shouldn’t be hot, but it is. Sam starts to suspect that he’ll be completely ruined for most girls after this, because most girls definitely aren’t strong enough to pin him down.

“Are you only doing this, because you want to get back at Gabe for whatever he did?” Nick asks.

“What?” Okay, Sam knows he doesn’t have any right to sound as surprised as he does. After all, his thoughts _have_ been going in that direction. “I may have, when he was around,” he admits. “He treated me a bit too much like property for my liking. But he isn’t around any more, is he? So no point continuing, if I wasn’t actually interested.”

“Did he tell you you’re his?” There’s something dark in Nick’s eyes now.

Sam nods.

“In that case …” Nick kisses and nips down the line of Sam’s neck. “Mind if I leave a mark?”

Sam huffs. “Now who’s the one doing things to annoy Gabriel?”

“As an older brother, I have to meet a certain quota.” Nick’s teeth scrape over Sam’s skin. “Yes or no?”

“Don’t make this into a turf war.”

“It’ll be just a friendly reminder that he knows better than to get possessive. We both have issues with that.” Nick presses his body against Sam’s, biting a bit harder, making Sam gasp. Probably not hard enough to leave a mark, though.

“I thought you like to share.”

“Yeah, but that’s something different. Now make a decision, will you?” The last sentence doesn’t sound particularly annoyed, but it’s said in a low growl that sounds more sexy than it has any right to.

Maybe that’s part of the reason why Sam says: “Alright. Yes.”

The next instant Nick bites down hard. Sam gasps, arching against Nick’s grip, really realizing for the first time that he’s kinda helpless here. He could probably break the hold on his wrists, but not without hurting Nick. The punk chuckles and soothingly licks the spot he’s bitten, drawing a soft moan from Sam.

“Sounds like I should do that more often.”

“Oh, shut up.”

Finally Nick lets go of his wrists. Sam uses the opportunity to draw him closer and kiss him again. Tangled into each other they stumble towards the bed. Nick pulls Sam’s t-shirt over his head, lets his hands run over Sam’s body like he has to claim every inch of Sam’s skin.

“So, you do that, too?” Sam asks. “Treating people like property?” Sam’s fingers find the buttons of Nick’s shirt again, and this time Nick lets him unbutton them.

“I make an effort not to.” The shirt lands on the floor. “Unless the other person is into it, but most people who like being owned are kind of boring. By the way, if you need help giving Gabe shit for it, let me know.”

“I can handle it.” Sam’s fingers trace the tattooed snake over Nick’s arm, up to his shoulder. From this close he discovers details he hadn’t seen before. The scales look so real, he’s almost surprised that he can feel nothing but skin. And it goes actually around the arm, over the sensitive skin on the inside too. “That probably hurt like hell, didn’t it?”

“It did.” Nick lets him admire the tattoo for a moment longer, then he pulls Sam closer by his belt loops. He sucks another mark into the skin over Sam’s collarbone, the lip piercing a cool counterpoint to hot tongue and lips. Their hips slot together, and Nick grinds against Sam in a way that makes both of them moan.

“Tell me, if I go to fast,” he mumbles against Sam’s skin. “Trying to take it slow, since you’re kinda a virgin.”

“I’m not a virgin!”

Nick laughs. “Oh, is that so? So we shouldn’t stick to frotting and blowjobs for today? You don’t mind bottoming? Because I prefer to top.”

Sam swallows. Okay, yes, he’s more than a bit nervous about that, especially because until now he kind of assumed he’s the one who gets to be on top. He probably should’ve known better.

Nick senses his hesitation, and Sam can feel him grin, when he places a kiss at the line of his jaw. “So we do take it slow?”

“Yeah, sounds good to me,” Sam admits. He grabs Nick’s hips, though, seeking more friction. Nick’s breath catches, and Sam can feel Nick’s hard-on sliding against his own through the fabric of their pants. And yes, that’s definitely not something Sam’s used to. “Don’t call me a virgin, though. And don’t treat me like I’m shy and breakable.”

To make a point he fumbles with the button of Nick’s pants, pulls them down and drops to his knees in one motion.

“As you wish.” Nick watches him through lust blown pupils, one hand carding through Sam’s hair. He’s still wearing his spiked collar and he looks gorgeous like this. The view helps Sam fight his nervousness a bit, while he pulls down Nick’s boxer shorts, too. Nick’s erection hangs right in front of Sam’s face, and before he can get second thoughts he wraps a hand around it, smiles when Nick gasps.

Sam’s been on the receiving end of quite a few blow jobs. It shouldn’t be that hard, should it? He knows the theory. He starts with a few experimental licks that make Nick’s breathing speed up, then he wraps his lips around it.

It’s a bit harder than he thought to keep his teeth from scraping over skin, and he doesn’t manage to swallow the whole length. But Nick moans, when Sam starts to bob his head, so that’s a win. Less great is that his jaw starts to ache pretty fast.

“Did I get the wrong impression before, or do you like being manhandled?” Nick’s voice sounds hoarse.

Sam hums an affirmative, which isn’t very helpful with an either or question, but Nick seems to get the message. He fists his fingers tighter in Sam’s hair and the slight pain of it makes Sam give a muffled sound of pleasure.

Nick laughs. “Oh, you’re perfect.” Then he keeps Sam’s head still and starts to fuck into his mouth.

To Sam’s surprise that makes it better. Nick’s very careful not to choke him, and Sam can just relax and take it. Even the ache in his jaw subsides a bit. He palms himself through his jeans, moaning again.

“Don’t touch yourself,” Nick says. “I want to … later …”

Sam makes a low frustrated sound, but obeys. Nick’s movements become more erratic, and Sam places a hand against his hip, just in case he forgets to hold back. Instead, the grip in Sam’s hair loosens. “If you don’t want to swallow … pull off now …”

After a split second of indecision, Sam opts to go for the whole experience. After all the point of this is to experiment, isn’t it? So he grabs Nick’s hips and holds him still as he takes him as deep as he can.

“Oh, fuck, Sam!”

A salty and somewhat bitter taste explodes on Sam’s tongue. He swallows as good as he can, while he drags Nick through his orgasm. As soon as Nick relaxes, Sam pops off and wipes saliva from his chin.

Nick lets out a long shaky breath. “I’m going to tell Gabe you’re a natural.”

Sam scowls up at him. “You’re not going to tell Gabriel anything, if you don’t want your ass kicked.”

“Spoilsport.” Nick pulls him to his feet, then he puts a hand against Sam’s chest and pushes. Sam stumbles a step back, the back of his knees catch at the edge of his bed, and he lets himself fall. Nick leaves his pants behind on the floor and crawls over Sam, trailing kisses along the line of Sam’s ribs.

It doesn’t take long for Sam to lose his pants, too. “Hey Nick?”

“Go with Lucifer. Or Luci, if you have to. I hate Nick.”

“I’m not calling you Lucifer.”

Nick grins. “Satan’s alright, too.”

Sam snorts, then gasps when one of Nick’s – alright, Lucifer’s – hand strokes up the inside of his thighs.

“What did you want to ask, Sam?” Lucifer purrs.

It takes Sam a moment to get his thoughts back on track. “What would you do, if you got into a relationship with someone who doesn’t like to bottom either?”

“Relationship is something different than casual sex. And it’s not like it doesn’t feel good.” Lucifer laughs at Sam’s skeptical face and casually lets the tips of his fingers run along Sam’s erection. Sam bucks up into the touch, but it’s gone again way too fast.

“If you let me, I can give you a taste of what it feels like,” Lucifer says. When Sam hesitates he adds: “Trust me, I’ll make it good.”

Oh, to hell with it. “You really are too full of yourself, but okay.”

With a very smug expression on his face Lucifer scoots down along Sam’s body, until he’s sitting between Sam’s thighs. He places a gentle bite on Sam’s hip, dips his tongue in Sam’s belly button, licks along the length of Sam’s cock. It’s just enough to make Sam moan, but not enough friction at all. Sam’s hips buck up again, but Lucifer pushes him down.

For a moment he looks at Sam like he’s debating something, then he leans forward, trapping Sam’s erection between their bellies, and holding middle and index finger up to Sam’s face. “Suck.”

Sam lifts an eyebrow, but he grabs Lucifer’s hand and does as he’s told. Lucifer smirks. “That’s better.”

Sam tilts his head to convey a question, and something about that makes Lucifer lick his lips as if they’ve suddenly gone dry.

“Less discussion,” he explains with a raspy voice, “more just going with what I suggest. I like that.”

Sam rolls his eyes and carefully bites down on Lucifer’s fingers in warning. When Lucifer pulls them out of Sam’s mouth with a soft curse, Sam grins. “Your issues are showing.”

“I’ll show you what it looks like when my issues are actually showing,” Lucifer grumbles, but there’s no actual anger in his voice. He leans back and fucking finally wraps his hand around Sam’s dick. Over that Sam almost misses how the spit slicked fingers of the other hand creep between his ass cheeks. He startles, when one of the fingers breaches his hole, but Lucifer jerks him off at the same time, and Sam just lets his head fall back and loses himself in the relief of finally being touched.

The intrusion is one of the more weird things Sam’s ever felt though. He’s in half his mind to tell Lucifer to stop, but then the finger brushes something inside Sam that makes him arch off the bed. “Fuck!”

Lucifer chuckles and wraps his lips around Sam’s dick. And damn, if that piercing doesn’t do things to Sam.

Lucifer sets a slow rhythm, sucking off Sam and fucking him with one finger at the same time. Sam fists his hands in the sheets and loses himself in the sensations. He doesn’t even manage to warn Lucifer, before he comes with a scream.

For a while Sam just lies there, eyes closed, panting. He feels Lucifer move, stretching out beside him. When he opens his eyes again, the punk’s grinning down on him.

“Don’t look so smug,” Sam manages groggily.

“Tell me you didn’t like it.”

“Totally didn’t like it,” Sam lies and hooks one finger under Lucifer’s collar to pull him down for a kiss.

“So,” Lucifer asks after a while, fingers lazily painting patterns on Sam’s skin. “How about round two and I get to pop your cherry this time?”

And there’s the jerk again. “You’d explode from smugness. Can’t have that. Maybe another time.”

“Won’t be many opportunities after tomorrow since you’ll be spending the next few days guarding my little brother day and night.”

That’s probably true. “Sucks to be us.”

Lucifer laughs. “Okay, I probably deserve that.”

“You do. How come you and Michael don’t have bodyguards by the way?”

“Mike does. Notice the black guy he hung around with at the gala? That’s his bodyguard Uriel. He doesn’t live here though. Mike only calls him, when he needs him. He doesn’t go out much.”

“Oh, I thought that was a friend by the way they were talking.”

“I guess they’re friends by now, but it’s not like Mike’s telling me much about his life.”

“Why aren’t you getting along?” It’s only after Sam asked the question that he realizes he may have crossed a line. Lucifer’s face gets serious all of a sudden. He drops next to Sam on the mattress and there’s silence for a while.

“You don’t have to tell me.”

“Nah, you’ll hear about it anyway, when we travel with the band. It’s because of Lilith.” Lucifer doesn’t look at him, stares at ceiling instead.

“I figured as much. What about her? Was she Michael’s girlfriend and you stole her or something like that?”

That seems to startle Nick. “What? No, we’re both completely gay. Lilith was like a sister, though. Especially to Mike. He didn’t like it, when I asked her to sing in the band, but he didn’t say anything against it. But then came the year we spent basically doing slave labor.”

“Because of Dick Roman.”

“Exactly. Lilith didn’t take it well. It was her biggest dream to become a famous singer, and it had turned into a nightmare. She started doing drugs.”

Oh. Sam can see where this is going.

“Mike blamed me, when we found out,” Lucifer continued. “I got angry. All I did was ask her to sing, you know? I didn’t tell her to start with the drugs, I didn’t give her any drugs. I didn’t know. We fought. It never got better again.”

From what Lucifer and Gabriel had said earlier it seems like Lucifer had been fanning the flames, but Sam isn’t going to point that out. “And you had to throw her out of the band because of drugs, too?”

“Mhm.” Lucifer turns, snaking an arm around Sam’s waist, drawing him closer. “She kept missing rehearsals or showed up high. We gave her chance after chance and did everything to try and help her. No use. She’s been to rehab a few times by now. And then Cas caught her trying to get Meg hooked to. That’s when we kicked her out.”

“Sorry to hear that.”

“That’s life.” Lucifer tries to make it sound like it’s no big deal, but Sam can hear the pain hidden in his voice. He may act like a jerk often enough, but it seems like he actually cares about the people close to him. Sam turns towards him, lets his hands wander over the tattooed wings, and is surprised, when Lucifer leans into the touch.

For a moment there’s silence, then Lucifer shifts and captures Sam’s lips in another kiss. “I’ll pop your cherry eventually.”

Sam gives a startled laugh. “Why do you have to be such a jerk?”

“Comes with the name.” Lucifer winks, then he gets up to get his clothes. “Let’s get packing.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter will be a Dean chapter. It'll go online Wednesday or Thursday, I haven't decided yet. After that I'll be gone for 10 days with most likely no internet and there will be no updates during that time.


	11. Investigations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Raphaela gets a task and Michael gets distracted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Important announcement** : There will be no new chapters until July 18th. I'll be traveling around half the world by tomorrow and I'll be gone until July 17th with most likely no internet.
> 
> I'm posting this Dean chapter now, because I know a lot of you have been waiting for another Dean chapter and I didn't want to leave you hanging until after I return. Hope you like it.

When Dean sees his little brother for breakfast the next day it’s hard to not spot the bruise in form of two perfect rows of teeth on the side of Sam’s neck. They’re the only ones in the kitchen again, so he grins and pats Sam’s shoulder while passing him on his way to the coffee maker. “Found a bitey maid, Sammy?”

To his delight, Sam blushes furiously. “Something like that,” he mumbles and rubs at the mark.

“Do I know her?”

“You … uhm …” Sam’s obviously lost for words. Wow, so it’s something serious? “You should’ve seen … uhm … him … at the gala.”

Dean almost drops his cup. “Him?”

Sam pokes with his fork at the eggs on his plate. “Yeah, turns out I’m bi, too.”

That’s unexpected. “Wow … congrats for figuring that out, I guess. What took you so long?” Dean gets himself a plate and fills it with bacon and eggs, too.

When he turns back to the table, Sam shrugs. “Never met a guy I liked before?”

“So what kind of guy do you like? And please tell me it’s not Gabriel.”

This makes Sam’s cheeks turn rosy again. Oh fuck, it can’t be actually Gabriel, can it? Sam shakes his head, though. “It’s Nick … uhm … Lucifer …”

“The punk brother?”

Sam nods.

“So you got yourself a Shurley.” If he’s absolutely honest with himself, Dean’s a bit jealous about that. Not because of Nick himself, he hasn’t even talked to the guy yet, but because he has his own Shurley he wouldn’t mind getting bitemarks from.

“Don’t judge me! I saw the way you stare at Michael’s ass!”

Yeah, he probably did that. Dean lifts both hands in a placating gesture. “Not judging. Whatever makes you happy, Sammy. Just don’t forget to use condoms, and –”

“Dean!” Sam interrupts him. “I know about safe sex, okay? I’ve had sex before!”

“Just making sure.”

Sam rolls his eyes.

* * *

Dean and Raphaela see off Sam and Gabriel a bit later. They’ll meet up with Nick and his band at his apartment and start their tour from there. Dean pities his little bro. He’s going to be on guarding duty all day long for the next few days.

Dean sees Raphaela whisper with Gabriel for a while, and that worries him a little. That guy means trouble. Hopefully he doesn’t pass that on to Raphe. After Sam and Gabriel have left, Dean asks her about it.

She grins. “Oh, he gave me a task.”

Uh oh. “A task?”

Raphe nods. “See, we’re all still wondering, who destroyed the manuscript.”

“Yeah, me too.”

“Here’s the thing: There was staff assigned to making sure no one from the gala would wander into the private areas of the house.”

Oh, that’s interesting. “So, someone should’ve seen something.”

This time Raphe’s nod is more eager. “They all claim they didn’t, though.”

“You think someone is lying. And Gabriel wants you to find out?”

Raphes hair bounces, when she nods again.

“Why doesn’t he stay and do it himself?”

“He … uhm …” She throws him a side glance as if she’s trying to decide, if she wants to tell him something. “He’s trying to find out other things.”

“While he’s away with Nick’s band?”

“Don’t call him Nick to his face, but yeah.”

Great. Hopefully Sammy doesn’t get into too much trouble. Dean should probably warn him.

“Would you mind coming with me to talk to Mike?” Raphaela asks all of a sudden.

Dean lifts an eyebrow. “Afraid of your big brother?”

“Nah, but he gets distracted when you’re around. That could be useful.”

So she can be a calculating little shit, if she wants to. “Really?” Dean asks. It probably sounded way too hopeful.

“Yeah, he’s always pretty nervous talking to you.”

He is? “He never looks nervous to me.”

Raphe laughs. “That’s because when he gets nervous, he gets even more rigid and does his full stick up the ass routine.”

“Wait, he isn’t like that all the time?”

That makes Raphaela laugh even more. Her whole face lights up, when she does it, teeth extra white in contrast to her skin. He’s really glad he got to guard her, not just because he’d have probably lost his patience with Gabriel by now.

“No!” she say. “He actually laughs now and then, believe it or not.”

Dean grins. “I’ll only believe that, when I see it.”

“Fair enough. So …” Raphe shoots him another side glance. “You like him, too?”

“I … uhm …” Fuck, he hasn’t been that flustered since middle school, and Michael isn’t even around.

Apparently that’s enough of an answer for Raphe. She makes a delighted sound and does a small bounce. “You do! That’s perfect. Help me and I’ll help you.”

Did he just acquire a teenage match maker? He probably should be afraid.

* * *

A few minutes later they’re standing in Michael’s office, Dean a few steps behind Raphaela, hands clasped behind his back, trying to looks unobtrusive. Now that he’s paying even more attention to it though, Michael’s eyes _do_ flicker in his direction quite often. Dean makes a point of meeting his gaze, hint of a smile on his face.

Michael swallows, tears his gaze from Dean and looks at his little sister again. “Why do you need the list of everyone who worked during the gala?”

Raphaela explains it and why she wants to ask them a few questions and does the little sibling puppy eyes. She’s almost as good at it as Sam is.

“Some of the wait staff was hired for the occasion,” Michael says. “I don’t want you to –”

“I’ll take Dean with me.”

“I’ll make sure nothing happens to her, Sir.” It’s very satisfying to see Michael’s nostrils flare at the ‘Sir’.

“Please?” Raphe says.

There’s another second of hesitation, then Michael sighs. “Fine. Be careful, okay?”

“I will! Thank you!” Raphe hugs him, and he hugs her back a bit awkwardly. There’s warmth in his eyes now, though, and a faint smile on his lips.

“Dean, please stay a moment longer.”

When Raphaela leaves, she gives Dean a discreet thumbs up. Then Dean is alone with Michael. The oldest Shurley son paces up and down for a moment, before he says anything. “I still worry about the message, even though it wasn’t written in blood. And if it really was someone from the staff who destroyed the manuscript or at least allowed someone else to do it …”

“I won’t let her out of my sight, Sir,” Dean assures him.

Michael stops his pacing right in front of Dean, a bit too close for a normal talking distance, definitely not yet close enough for Dean’s liking. Still, all Dean’d have to do is lean forward and … Yeah, great idea. If he’s read the situation wrong, it may get him fired. Better to tread careful here.

“You shouldn’t call me that,” Michael says.

“You don’t like it?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“So I don’t have to stop?”

This time there’s a slight smile on Michael’s face. He reaches out and fixes the collar of Dean’s flannel shirt, and Dean leans into the touch just enough that Michael’s fingers brush the skin on his neck. The tension between them is almost palpable by now.

“No, don’t stop.” Michael clears his throat, though, pulls his hands back slowly. “If you notice anything unusual or disturbing, even if it’s just a little thing, tell me.”

“Yes, Sir.”

Maybe Dean is imaging it, but he’s almost sure he hears Michael make a soft sound at the back of his throat. _Just make a move and kiss me, for fuck’s sake! Or ask me out for dinner, I don’t care._

Nothing happens though. Only Michael looking into Dean’s eyes like he’s trying to stare right into his soul. Dean holds his breath.

“Off you go then.”

What Dean definitely doesn’t imagine is how close he comes to giving a frustrated groan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me being gone also means that I won't be able to answer comments. That doesn't mean I don't appreciate them. I'll get to them as soon as I get back.


	12. Festival

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which there's music and Gabriel literally climbs Sam like a tree.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not back yet, but since I have working wifi here and will be spending the next 24 hours on a plane and then most likely just drop dead, because sleeping in planes is not possible and I don't know how other people do it, I'm posting the next chapter now.
> 
> So here have a Sabriel kiss. There's also a little bit of homophobia, but it leads to something good.

On the side of the tour bus there’s “The Fallen” painted on the side in big angry letters. Apart from that it looks just like a normal bus. When Sam steps in, though, it’s everything but normal.

There are no rows of seats, instead there are benches on the sides, a table in the middle. Something that looks suspiciously like a minibar follows, then a curtain that’s drawn back at the moment and reveals a bunk bed. Not enough for the whole band to sleep in, but enough, if someone wants to crash somewhere along the way probably.

On the benches are three people already. Lucifer makes the introductions. “Guys, you already know my brother Gabe.”

Gabriel steps around Sam and waves. A guy with a rainbow colored mohawk grins at him. “Welcome back, buddy!” he says with a slight French accent.

“Gabster!” a tiny brunette woman calls. Her hair is shaved off on the right side of her head and she wears even more piercings than Lucifer.

Next to her a serious looking guy with dark hair nods. “Gabriel”, he says in a deep gravely voice. Compared to the others he doesn’t look very punkish and more like a tax accountant. There’s only one tattoo peeking over the collar of his shirt.

“This is Gabe’s body guard Sam,” Lucifer goes on and points at him. He gets greeted with nods and smiles.

“And this is the band.” He points at the guy with the mohawk. “Balthazar. Keyboard and for now second vocals.” Then at the woman. “Meg. Drums.” Then at the guy next to her. “Castiel. Bass.”

“Please be nice to Sam,” Gabriel says. “I actually like him.”

Meg whistles. “That’s a first.”

“Aww,” Balthazar chips in. “I’ve been looking forward to the pranks.”

Sam smiles at Balthazar, wondering if this is still just Gabriel trying to find a way into his pants or if he actually starts to like him for more than his looks. He finds himself hoping for the latter. “Sorry to disappoint.” 

“Thank God,” Castiel says. “There’s still glitter in some corners of this bus from last time.”

Apparently, Gabriel really likes glitter.

* * *

The first gig Crowley got them is in a small town. They drive there for a few hours and check in at the hotel in which Crowley has booked rooms for them. Lucifer goes to collect the keys to their rooms. When he comes back to the bus, he looks a bit disappointed for some reason.

“Shared bed for Cas and Meg.” He throws them one of the keys, and Meg catches it.

“Two beds for Gabe and Sam.” Another key goes flying. Sam catches it thanks to his bigger reach. Since he has to watch Gabriel it makes sense that they share a room.

Lucifer lifts one last key. “And two beds for Balthazar and me.”

“If you snore again,” Balthazar grumbles, “I swear I’ll strangle you in your sleep.”

Lucifer scowls at him. “I don’t snore.”

“You did in LA.”

“That was some guy in the room one door over.”

“Sure … Keep telling yourself that ...”

“Could you not fight?” Gabriel says with an eyeroll. “If you don’t get along, Luci’s always welcome in our room, right Samshine?”

Sam shoots him a bitchface that makes Gabriel snigger.

“Alright,” Lucifer says, corners of his mouth twitching. “Now let’s check out the site.”

* * *

The site is basically a field someone has built a stage on. Apparently, Crowley has gotten them a last minute slot at a festival. When they arrive, there’s already a band playing. People are walking about with cans of beer in their hands, cheering, when the tour bus rolls past them.

Sam and Gabriel help unpack the instruments, then they walk around the stage to try and find a free spot in front of it. In the middle of the crowd Sam feels underdressed in his jeans and flannel shirt. But at least the way he doesn’t fit in he’s definitely doing the non-conformity thing right that punk’s about.

They find a spot right at the barrierer in front of the stage. Just a few minutes later The Fallen appear on stage.

Meg sets the beat on the drums, then Castiel joins in with the bass. They don’t pay much attention to the crowd, eyes on each other, and the heated looks between them make Sam reconsider his first impression of Castiel, who’s barely spoken a word during the drive. He’s definitely not as shy as Sam has thought. 

Then Lucifer and Balthazar join in and right from the first guitar riff on, it’s really hard for Sam to take his eyes off Lucifer. The way he’s posing with his guitar, singing the first lines of a song Sam doesn’t know demands everyone's attention. His blue eyes scan the crowd, and for a moment Sam’s sure they meet his and the little smile pulling at the corners of Lucifer’s lips is just for him. The guy is pretty attractive off stage already. On stage he’s practically sex on legs.

“Pretty hot, when he does that, isn’t he?” Gabriel’s leaning into Sam’s space so he can be heard over the music, talking around a lollipop he produced from somewhere.

Sam nods.

Gabriel sniggers. “And I really don’t wanna tell you how to do your job, but I don’t think making moon eyes at my brother is helping you do it right.”

What a little shit. Okay, Gabriel is also right, but since when is he interested in Sam actually doing his job?

Still, the smart thing to do would probably be to start paying more attention to the crowd. That’d feel like Gabriel won somehow though. So instead Sam does the stupid thing. He pulls Gabriel in front of him, placing his hands on the barrier at each side of the smaller man. No way anyone can get to Gabriel without him noticing now.

“You think I can continue making moon eyes at your brother now?”

Gabriel laughs. “Touché. Go ahead. In the meantime, I’ll just enjoy this.” He wiggles against Sam to point out how close they are right now. And damn, if it doesn’t feel good. Sam shakes his head. What’s wrong with him? Is one brother not enough?

“Can’t stop you,” is all Sam says though. By now he’s pretty sure he knows how both Shurley brothers think, and they’re pretty big on consent, when it comes to sex. So he probably won’t have to worry about Gabriel taking advantage of their proximity in a shitty way.

And as Gabriel leans back against Sam he does so strictly with his back as point of contact, nothing dirty about it at all. Still, the warm body against his plus Lucifer’s performance on stage make it really hard not to forget that Sam’s here because he’s supposed to do his job.

* * *

As soon as the last song ends, Gabriel grabs Sam’s arm and pulls him through the crowd. “Let’s meet them backstage.”

It’s slow going though. People make way only reluctantly. At one point Gabriel pushes past someone at the same time the guy takes a step back. They bump into each other and both stumble, and Sam grabs Gabriel’s shoulder to keep him steady.

The guy turns. “Hey, watch where you go, will ya?” He’s holding a can of beer that’s probably not his first, and he extends a hand to shove at Gabriel.

Sam catches it. “Back off.”

The guy looks taken aback for a moment, but is obviously too drunk to know when to stop. He pulls his lips into a sneer. “And who are you? His boyfriend or something?” He looks at Gabriel. “Need your boyfriend to fight your fights for you?”

Out of the corner of his eye Sam can see Gabriel bristle. Shit. Last thing Sam needs now is his protegee doing something stupid out of hurt pride. The next moment Gabriel relaxes though, taking the lollipop out of his mouth. “Nah,” he says, “but he’s kinda hot, when he beats the shit out of someone. I enjoy the show.”

It’s a near thing, but Sam manages not to give a surprised laugh. At the same time, the guy swings with his left hand, and Sam catches that too, twists the arm until his opponent has no other choice than to drop to his knees. It’s the same hold Lucifer had him in a few days ago.

“So”, he says as casually as he can manage, “what do you want me to do with him, darling?”

It’s kind of nice, the way Gabriel’s eyes sparkle as Sam plays along. A mixture of surprise and mischief with something dark underneath.

“Aww,” he cooes, “you’re always giving the sweetest presents to me. But I think we can let him off with a warning.”

“As you wish.” And that was probably a mistake, because Gabriel looks way too pleased now. Sam shoves the drunk into the dirt anyway, and lets Gabriel put an arm around his waist as they walk away.

“I could get used to that,” Gabriel says.

Sam laughs. “Yeah, not happening.”

“Fucking fags!”

Sam half turns to see the guy get angrily to his feet again. He doesn’t follow them, though, just shakes his fist at them.

“So …” Gabriel asks. “If I wanted to make his little homophobic brain explode, you wouldn’t be on board?”

Sam has a vague notion of what Gabriel has in mind, and he shakes his head. “Just leave him be.” He pulls Gabriel on.

“You should all just die!”

Sam’s fists clench at his sides, but he keeps on walking. Gabriel lifts an eyebrow at Sam. “You sure?”

To hell with it. “Okay, do your worst.”

And that was probably a mistake, too. Gabriel pulls at Sam’s belt loops to make him stop, and puts his hands on Sam’s shoulder. The next second Sam has an armful of Gabriel as the shorter man literally jumps him. He catches him, and Gabriel wraps his legs around Sam’s waist, high enough that he’s actually looking down on Sam now.

He pulls the lollipop out of his mouth again and kisses Sam.

Why do they always find excuses to kiss him? And why do they always have to do it with tongue? Gabriel’s tastes of strawberry lollipop, and he kisses less forcefully than Lucifer, more thoroughly though as if he’s trying to explore every inch of Sam’s mouth. Sam finds himself gripping Gabriel’s thighs tighter where he’s holding him, hands itching to wander. He tries to keep an eye at the drunk guy, but he doesn’t seem to have much courage left and sticks to yelling insults. Someone in the crowd is cheering, but it’s getting harder to pay attention to his surroundings like he should, and Sam feels himself relax into the kiss. All of this is definitely a really big mistake, but he can’t bring himself to care right now.

It seems to be ages, until they separate. “I could get very used to this,” Gabriel whispers into Sam’s ear. “And you know what’s the best thing about it? It makes it look like that bitemark is mine.”

The thought of Gabriel leaving a bitemark, too, is a lot more of a turn on than Sam would like.

But Sam also can’t help but freeze for a moment, because this isn’t just a game, Gabriel actually wants him. What if he’s just tempted Gabriel a bit too much? What if Gabriel’s resolve to do the right thing snaps and he takes advantage of the blackmail situation to get past Sam’s insistence to stay professional (as if he’s doing such a good job with that)? Yes, Sam’s enjoyed the kiss way more than he should, but there’s a difference between doing something on his own terms and doing something because he has no other choice.

“Samshine?” Gabriel’s voice pulls him back from his thoughts. “What’s the matter? Come on, let me down.”

Sam lets Gabriel slide down carefully and they walk away without looking back at the drunk. Halfway around the stage, Gabriel stops and pulls on Sam’s arm until he looks at him. There’s real concern in those whiskey colored eyes, and that more than anything sets Sam’s mind at ease again. “You know you could’ve said no.”

Sam nods. “I said yes because I was as angry as you were. It’s fine.”

“You don’t look like everything’s fine. You afraid Luci might get jealous? We don’t have to tell him.”

Sam huffs. “Since he was the one who said the words ‘casual sex’ yesterday, that’s not very likely.”

“He did?” Gabriel looks surprised. “Huh …So what’s the matter then?”

“You mean apart from me doing a really bad job at staying professional?”

Gabriel gives a little smirk at that. “Oh, I’d say it was totally necessary for the job. But yes, apart from that, if you ask like that.”

Sam sighs. “Just ... don’t get possessive, okay?”

“You hate it so much?”

“Yes.” It’s not that Sam hates it per se. He actually likes the bitemark he’s sporting right now. But possessiveness in combination with Gabriel actually owning his ass any way he pleases? Not a good mix.

“Okay,” Gabriel says. “Sorry.”

Sam blinks at him in surprise. “What? No teasing? Did I break you?”

Gabriel laughs. “Did you think you could kiss me like that and not melt my brain?” He waggles his eyebrows at Sam in the most obnoxious way possible.

Sam can’t help it, he has to laugh, too. “You’re impossible.”

“I know. Now let’s get backstage, before the others think we got lost somewhere.”

* * *

As it turns out, Sam wasn’t quite right about Lucifer.

When they find The Fallen backstage a bit later, Lucifer’s eyes are glowing with post-concert adrenalin, and he crowds Sam against the next best wall for a heated kiss, while Balthazar and Meg cheer them on. Sam melts into Lucifer’s embrace, giving as good as he gets, everything else forgotten for a moment.

After a few seconds Lucifer pulls back though, smacking his lips. “Strawberry?”

He looks at Gabriel through narrowed eyes, then he plucks the lollipop from his mouth and licks it experimentally.

“Hey!” Gabriel snatches it back, completely missing the way Lucifer looks between him and Sam.

All of a sudden Sam feels kind of guilty, even though he hasn’t done anything wrong. Okay, yes, he has done something wrong by kissing Gabriel, because it was highly unprofessional, but it’s nothing that concerns Lucifer in any way. “There … uhm … was some homophobic idiot …” he tries to explain anyway.

“Is that so?” Lucifer asks in a low voice. Then he kisses Sam again until all traces of strawberry are gone.

Sam only notices in passing that Gabriel is uncharacteristically quiet for the rest of the evening.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter will come on schedule again, which means friday.


	13. Double Checking

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which there is some theorizing and Gabriel asks two serious questions in a row.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter ends on a small cliffhanger, in case you want to wait for next Tuesday and read this one and the next one in one go.

They end the evening in the hotel bar with a lot of talk and laughter. Balthazar recounts how Lucifer had missed his cue during one song and he had to improvise. Castiel chides Balthazar for going way overboard with the improvisation so that he could barely keep up. Meg seems mostly just happy with half sitting on Castiel’s lap and occasionally leaving hickeys right above his tattoo. He acts like he doesn’t notice, but his hands are always stroking her back or her thighs.

At one point Lucifer and Gabriel go get more drinks. Sam stays where he is. There’s no one else in the bar by now, and he’s between them and the door anyway. He watches them leaning into each other, Gabriel’s head on Lucifer’s shoulder. It’s kind of cute, but also doesn’t fit the turf war they seem to have started over Sam. He’s glad they get along though.

“I think they’re fucking,” Balthazar says out of the blue. When Sam turns to him, he’s looking at Lucifer and Gabriel, too.

Castiel groans. “Do we have to have this conversation every time Gabriel accompanies us on a tour?”

“I still think there’s some kind of unresolved tension thing going on,” Meg says. “I mean, they grew up as brothers. Must be really weird wanting to fuck your brother, adopted or not. So they don’t acknowledge it. Romantic in a way, don’t you think?”

“No,” Castiel says.

Balthazar turns to Sam. “What do you think?”

That Meg’s explanation makes a lot of sense, but Sam doesn’t say that. Instead he leans back and takes a sip from his coke (he’s still on duty after all). “I think I’ll pass on this conversation.”

Balthazar laughs, and Castiel nods. “A very wise decision.”

“I don’t think you’d have picked up on anything anyway,” Meg says. “Since they both want to jump your bones, when you’re around.”

Sam sighs. “Thanks for pointing that out. I wouldn’t have noticed at all.”

“Oh yes,” Balthazar says. “Subtlety isn’t their strong suit.” Which is slightly ironic coming from a guy with a rainbow colored mohawk.

* * *

Later that night there’s a knock on Sam and Gabriel’s door. Sam has been sleeping already and he only wakes up fully, when Gabriel is already out of his bed and on the way to the door. Sam reaches for his gun on instinct, then catches Gabriel, before he can open the door, hand clasping around a naked shoulder and pulling him back. “That’s my job.”

Gabriel blinks up at him sleepily. “Oh …” he says. “Yes.” Then a slow smirk spreads on his face. “Looking good there, by the way. Nice combination of bed hair and bossiness.”

Sam rolls his eyes and is suddenly very aware that they both wear nothing but boxers. He pulls his hand back. “Step back a little, will you?”

Gabriel smirks. “Sure.”

The space by the door is kind of narrow, Sam has to give him that, but it’s probably not necessary that Gabriel brushes by him that close. For a moment, there’s the slide of skin on skin, making Sam shudder. He takes a big breath, before goes to open the door.

It’s Lucifer. He also looks like he had been sleeping already, but he’s wearing jeans and a t-shirt, no socks though. Sam steps aside to let him in.

“Did you snore?” Gabriel asks amused.

Lucifer shakes his head. “Balthazar picked up the hotel bartender. And the receptionist, I think. He asked, if I’d mind taking you up on your offer.”

Gabriel sniggers. “Come and join the club of boring people who actually spend the night sleeping. You’re gonna share my bed though, because I don’t want to get woken up by you two taking cuddling to the next level tonight.”

Sam is kind of glad about that, because he isn’t very keen on ‘taking cuddling to the next level’ with an audience.

“Pity.” Lucifer walks by Sam, fingertips grazing over the skin of his torso, and that’s really not fair. “Sleep tight, Sammy.”

“It’s Sam.” Not that it makes much difference, since he’s definitely spectacularly lost the fight over nicknames to Gabriel.

* * *

The next morning Sam gets blessed - or cursed, depending on how you look at it - with the sight of Lucifer and Gabriel all tangled into each other on the neighboring bed. The way they fit into a space like that together makes Sam think of a pile of sleeping cats. He sits up and indulges himself by watching for a moment. It’s not creepy, if you’re the bodyguard. At least that’s what he tells himself.

This time Gabriel’s the one who wakes up first, peeking over Lucifer’s shoulder who’s lying with his back to Sam again. “Enjoying the view?”

No, he definitely won’t blush this early in the morning. Sam puts on his most indifferent face and shrugs. “Sue me.” He can always play it like he looked at Lucifer only.

Gabriel laughs softly and rolls on his back. “I like how you’re getting less apologetic about things like that. I kinda want to attribute it to our good influence.”

“Good is absolutely the word I’d have used.”

Gabriel sniggers. “Go shower first,” he says after a moment. “I promise I’ll stay right here.”

* * *

When Sam steps out of the bathroom, towel wrapped around his waist, Lucifer is up, though grumpy. At the sight of still a bit damp, towel clad Sam his face lights up though. He shoots him an appreciative look (as does Gabriel) and walks over, putting a hand on Sam’s hip and tiptoeing slightly to kiss him. “Morning. I’d advice to get dressed before you make Gabe’s brain explode.”

“Don’t worry, my brain is completely fine,” Gabriel calls from where he’s sitting in front of a laptop on his bed.

Lucifer laughs and walks past Sam in the direction of the bathroom.

Getting dressed fast was the plan though. Sam walks over to the duffle bag he keeps his clothes in and pulls a pair of boxer shorts from it. He shimmies into it, before he drops the towel.

“Samalam?”

Sam doesn’t turn and fishes for his jeans. “Can you call me by my real name at least once? You’re setting a bad example for your brother.”

“Bad examples is what I do best. Would you answer a question for me?”

Sam rolls his eyes. “Okay.”

“Your father’s hospital stay, is there a possibility that it isn’t paid by legal means?”

Sam freezes with his pants below his ass. This sounds like trouble way too early in the morning. After a moment he pulls the jeans up all the way and turns slowly. “Looking for more blackmail material?” He only half means it, actually worrying more that someone else might’ve found out.

Gabriel rolls his eyes. “You could trust me a bit more, you know.”

“Says the guy who’s blackmailing me to help him break into someone’s house,” Sam teases.

“Which means that you’re already doing what I want. I already own your ...” He stops himself just in time. “Sorry.”

At least Gabriel’s trying. Sam huffs a laugh. “Was that supposed to be reassuring?”

“Kinda, but I admit it probably wasn’t.”

“Probably?” Sam folds his arms in front of his chest.

Gabriel lifts both hands. “It totally wasn’t and I apologize. Again.”

Oh, this is good. Sam can make Gabriel feel guilty. He smiles. “Say it a third time. I like hearing it.”

Gabriel points at him. “Don’t overdo it. Point is,” he goes on, “Dick Roman is still digging to try and find anything about your brother and it looks like your father and his circumstances is the direction he’s going.”

Shit.

Sam’s silence seems to be enough of an answer for Gabriel. He sighs. “Samshine, why didn’t you say anything sooner? I fixed your licence, I can fix this, too.”

“There shouldn’t be anything to fix,” Sam protests. “I’m better at credit card scams than I’m at fake licences.” By then he remembers that he’s only half dressed and gets a shirt from his bag and pulls it over his head.

“And it would’ve hurt to have me double check after you learned Dick is doing research on your brother?”

Apart from Sam’s pride? Probably not. But he’d been really sure he managed to cover his tracks well this time. Now he’s starting to have doubts though. “Did he find anything?”

“Not sure yet.” Gabriel turns back to his laptop, and after a moment Sam walks over to him. He sits next to Gabriel on the bed and looks over his shoulder. Instantly, Gabriel leans back into Sam’s space a little. “Today seems to be your lucky day. Dick has dick on you so far.”

Sam gives a sigh of relief, and only now realizes how close he’s come to imitating the way Lucifer’s always leaning over his brother. He straightens up a bit. “Since you’re already at it now, can you tell that something’s wrong with dad’s credit card and health insurance?”

“Health insurance, too?” Gabriel looks at Sam over his shoulder, eyes sparkling. “You know I really like you?”

This probably shouldn’t spark such a warm glow in Sam. There’s silence for a while, only disturbed by Gabriel tapping the keys and water running in the bathroom. “Looks like you did really good there, Samshine,” Gabriel says after a while. “Only fixing a little detail right now.”

“Thanks again, I guess.”

“While you’re in a thankful mood … Can you be absolutely honest with me for a moment?” Gabriel doesn’t look up from the screen.

What now? “Depends on the question.”

“It’s another serious question. Not going to ask for a list of your kinks or something like that. Though that’d be interesting.”

Sam rolls his eyes. Gabriel definitely deserves to be teased for this. “That’d be two serious questions in a row. Are you well?”

“So nice of you to be concerned about my health, Samwise. Do you _want_ me to ask about your kinks? I still could.”

Sam laughs. “Alright,” he admits defeat. “Ask your serious question.”

Gabriel clears his throat. “You asked me not to get possessive yesterday. Is it because you’re afraid I might eventually go: ‘You know what, being a sexual predator doesn’t sound that bad.’ and still take advantage of the situation? I’ve been thinking about what set you off yesterday and … Are you worried that kiss was a bit too tempting not to want a second round?”

Okay, that’s more serious than Sam has expected. Gabriel probably deserves some honesty though. “Yes, I was. Telling me you basically want to mark me as yours right after wasn’t very reassuring under the circumstances, you know?”

“Fuck. Yes. Of course.” Gabriel finally turns towards Sam again, whiskey colored eyes big and guilty. “I’m stupid and I’m sorry.”

Sam can’t help but grin. Yes, he had worried yesterday, but considering the way Gabriel is fussing over him again, he’s feeling perfectly safe now. “Say that again,” he prompts.

Gabriel’s nostrils flare. For a moment he just glares at Sam. “I deserve this, don’t I?”

“Yes, you do.”

“What did you do this time, little bro?” comes a voice from the direction of the bathroom door.

And this can only mean trouble. As Sam turns around, Lucifer is sporting the same look Sam had a few minutes before: Slightly damp and only clad in a towel. It derails Sam’s thoughts for a moment and makes him almost miss the way Gabriel looks at him. There’s a question in those whiskey colored eyes. So it’s Sam’s decision what to tell Lucifer?

“He’s just being an idiot,” he tries. The last thing Sam needs is Lucifer knowing about this. He isn’t even sure which side Lucifer would take. And even if he does take Sam’s, Sam isn’t sure, if Gabriel really deserves his brother getting pissed at him for this. With the way Gabriel has been acting since yesterday, they can sort it out themselves.

The punk narrows his eyes, then he walks towards them. He stops right in front of Sam, who’s still sitting on the bed. With one finger he lifts Sam’s chin up to look him into the eyes, and, fuck, the view’s really good from this angle.

“My brother does not admit he deserves something unless he severely messed up,” he informs Sam in a calm but firm voice.

Great. Just great. “Well, in that case it’s still between him and me, and I can deal with it. I don’t need you to butt in.”

For a moment, cold blue eyes stay locked with Sam’s. He can see Lucifer’s jaw muscles working.

“Fine,” Lucifer says finally. He turns away, towards the small pile of his clothes on the floor next to the bed.

When Sam turns back to Gabriel, the smaller man lifts an eyebrow in surprise. He leans forward into Sam’s space. “Did you just not rat me out, when you had the chance?” he whispers.

Sam shrugs. “Pay me back by making sure my brother stays out of trouble.”

Gabriel smiles. “Will do.” For a moment, he looks at Sam thoughtfully, then he seems to come to a decision. “But I think I’ll also pay you back by setting this completely right.”

“What –?”

Gabriel winks at him. “Trust me.” He turns to Lucifer. “Luci? You’re right, I messed up big time, and I think we need your help sorting this out.”

Oh, great. Just great.


	14. Story time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which we learn more about all of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There will be a bit of drama, but it'll all be resolved in this chapter.
> 
> There's the mention of past domestic abuse, but it's complicated. John Winchester isn't a good father, he isn't particularly bad either, though. He's been trying and failing rather spectacularly.

Lucifer is half way into his pants when he looks up. “So, will you tell me what you did now?”

It’s Sam’s turn to glare at Gabriel. This’ll just get his secrets revealed to another person he really _wants_ to trust, but doesn’t know long enough yet. Gabriel shoots him a reassuring smile and then looks at Lucifer with the expression of a man who knows he’ll probably get his ass kicked pretty soon. At least that’s some consolation.

“I blackmailed Sam.” Of course that’s when he choses to use Sam’s actual name for a change.

Lucifer lifts an eyebrow, looking from Gabriel to Sam and back, pulling up his pants completely while he does so. “That’s why he helped us at the gala? I should’ve known.”

That’s not the kind of reaction Sam has expected. He isn’t sure, if he should be glad or worried about the lack of drama. “So, you’re okay with it?”, he asks.

“What does it matter what I think, Sammy, since you can deal with it so well on your own?” Lucifer doesn’t sound actually angry about being told to mind his own business earlier, but Sam will be damned, if he isn’t a bit miffed.

Fine. Sam hadn’t been the one who asked for help. “Well, I can, and I don’t even mind helping you that much. If you’d asked nicely enough, I’d have probably done it either way.” Especially now that Dick Roman is digging up stuff about Dean.

Lucifer scoffs. “Oh, so you don’t mind that Gabe has you on a chain, because you don’t pull against it?”

Sam’s pride does not take kindly to that at all. He takes a deep breath for an angry retort, but Gabriel’s faster.

“Luci!” he snaps. “Get your head out of your ass! I didn’t tell you so you can get mad at Sam for not telling you sooner! He couldn’t have known you wouldn’t be making it worse.”

“Especially,” Sam adds, “since you sound like a jerk every time you open your mouth.” It’s not true, but the chain comment hit spot on, and there’s the stupid urge to hit back.

“Didn’t seem to bother you at the gala,” Lucifer says, surprisingly a bit more friendly now.

“Well, maybe I have a thing for assholes, and that’s why I put up with both of you at all.”

Gabriel grins. “You have a thing for both of us?”

Great. What he needed right now. “Oh, shut up.”

There’s a brief glance between Lucifer and Gabriel, then Lucifer fishes for his t-shirt and pulls it over his head. “You know I don’t have much chance holding you accountable, if Sam isn’t working with me, right, Gabe?”

So that’s the idea? Sam has to admit it’s not that bad. He takes a deep breath, feeling sorry now for snapping at Lucifer.

Gabriel sighs and turns to Sam. “Sammykins, Luci has told you that we both have some issues with possessiveness, right?”

Sam nods, curious where this’ll be going.

“So both of us have to make an effort not to get too controlling over the lives of people we consider ours,” Lucifer takes over.

“Starting with not actually talking about them as ours,” Gabriel quips.

Lucifer points at him. “Shut up, you broke that one first.”

Gabriel lifts both hands to admit defeat. “Point is, we have this system where we hold each other accountable for breaking the rules.”

“You’re breaking rules all the time,” Sam points out.

Lucifer grins. “Not our own. Our rules make a lot of exceptions.” He looks at Gabriel. “But they do say not to blackmail friends or friends of friends.”

Sam doesn’t even wonder about the fact that it seems to be alright to blackmail people they don’t like in their book. He’s seen what else they do to those.

“Or cyberstalk them for that matter,” Lucifer adds. “Because secrets you can blackmail people with don’t just lie around openly, right, Gabe?”

“You of all people have no right to get smug at me about stalking,” Gabriel grumbles. “And have you seen Sammykins do his thing? He’s perfect, Luci, I wanted to make sure …” He stops.

“You wanted to make sure you can keep him.”

“That’s definitely how I didn’t want to phrase it.”

“I get it, Gabe. What do you think why I’m not mad at you?”

This talk is probably the most surreal one Sam has ever had, though he has to admit he’s a bit fascinated. Knowing you have issues like this and dealing with them in the way Gabriel and Lucifer are takes a lot of self awareness.

“Thing is,” Gabriel says, turning back to Sam, “now that Luci knows, he’ll kick my ass, if I break the rules again. Which means, as of now you’re not obliged to do anything I want any more, and he’s your insurance it’ll stay that way. But you’ll have to trust him and you’ll have to stow your pride and talk to him.”

Is Gabriel actually talking about completely stopping the blackmail thing? So that’s what he meant with making it completely right.

“I’m not going to ask what he’s been blackmailing you with,” Lucifer say. “And we probably never have to have this kind of talk again, because normally with both of us it’s enough to know that the other will hold us accountable that we don’t relapse. Okay?”

Sam nods. He’s more than a bit impressed with the system they have there. “Do I want to know how often something like this has happened before?”

Gabriel gives him a loopsided grin. “Probably not.” Then he turns to Lucifer again and takes a deep breath. “Uhm … there’s one more thing you should probably know, because I’m pretty sure Samshine here won’t mention it otherwise.”

Lucifer tilts his head to the side.

Another deep breath, and now Gabriel’s avoiding Lucifer’s eyes. “I’m not saying there’s any danger of it actually happening, but I’ve given him reason to worry, so for him to feel safe, you have to keep an eye on it, too.”

Sam sighs. Why has he worried at all yesterday? Gabriel trying so hard to make it right makes him feel sorry about it now. “It’s alright,” he says. “I trust you on this, you don’t have to –”

“What is it?” Lucifer interrupts him, voice sharp now.

“Well … uhm …” Gabriel’s fidgeting and looking down on his hands. “He thought I’d ask for sexual favors.”

There’s a moment of silence, then Lucifer strides over to Gabriel and grabs him by the collar of his shirt. “Care to explain what gave him that impression in the first place?” Lucifer’s voice is pure ice now, sending chills down Sam’s spine.

Gabriel probably deserves a little help though. “Because I offered sex as soon as he found out about my secret,” Sam says, trying not to think back on how he’d begged Gabriel not to tell anyone about the fake licence.

Lucifer’s head whips around in his direction pretty fast. “What?”

“That was before you two met,” Gabriel hurries to add as if that’s important right now.

Lucifer lets go of his shirt, face still made of stone. “You mean before he was even sure about his sexuality? What kind of secret did you find there?”

“I thought you weren’t going to ask,” Sam grumbles.

“That was when I thought it was something small. But if you murdered someone, I’d like to know.” Okay, if that’s what he’s thinking, Lucifer probably has a point there.

“He didn’t,” Gabriel says. “Let’s just say he’d lose his job, if Mikey knew, okay?” 

Lucifer lifts an eyebrow. “I’m the first to admit that Mike has a big stick up his ass, but if you’re absolutely sure he’d throw Sam out for it, there might be a good reason. He won’t do anything because of a sketchy past or something like that.”

Oh no, no no! That’s not fair! Does Lucifer have to doubt his intentions now?

Gabriel holds his brother’s gaze. “Trust me. He isn’t a danger to the family.”

Sam looks between the brothers, while it slowly sinks in that Gabriel’s not only keeping his promise to keep his secret, he’s also showing a lot of trust in Sam. With the kind of background Sam has, no way Gabriel can be sure this isn’t a big scam to get a chunk of Chuck’s money. Suddenly Sam feels even more bad for mistrusting Gabriel in return.

The way Lucifer looks at him now hurts, too. Apparently he isn’t too keen on giving Sam the benefit of the doubt. Still Lucifer nods. “If you say so.”

Something in his face stays closed off though. Sam’s sure he trusts Gabriel’s judgement more than he trusts Sam. And some part of him doesn’t want to be looked at like that at all. Maybe that’s why he says: “You can tell him.”

Gabriel and Lucifer look at him in surprise. “You sure?” Gabriel asks.

“Yes. I’m not going to break into Roman’s house with someone who looks at me like that.” Sam points at Lucifer, trying not to show how much this is about more than just a good working relationship, how much he wants those blue eyes to get warm again. Or at least look at him in that hungry way that says Lucifer wants to shove him against a wall and leave marks on his skin. He’d be okay with that too, if it’d just make the caution und mistrust disappear.

At least there’s a happy glow in Gabriel’s eyes, when he looks at Sam now. “You’re still on board with the break-in?”

“Dick Roman is digging up stuff about Dean, remember? So tell Lucifer, before I change my mind. And Lucifer, I’m sorry I snapped at you earlier, by the way.”

That gets him a surprised look and a cautious nod.

It’s somehow easier to have Gabriel do the talking. That way Sam doesn’t have to force every word out past the fear that he’s making the wrong decision. Sam lets himself fall back onto the bed, folds his hands behind his head and makes a show out of looking relaxed, while Gabriel fills Lucifer in about the fake licence and the things he doesn’t know about John Winchester yet.

After Gabriel’s done, Lucifer looks at Sam with narrowed eyes. “Okay, yes, there’s a fifty percent chance Mike won’t like the thing with with fake licence. This whole thing doesn’t make sense though.”

Suddenly there seems to be a ball of ice curled up in Sam’s stomach. Looks like it was the wrong decision. Still, he stays like he is, trying not to look worried. “What doesn’t make sense?”

“You being attached to this job so much you offer to sleep with Gabe as soon as something pops up that might make you lose it.”

“Hey, sex with me isn’t that bad,” Gabriel protests. “And you wouldn’t want to go back to your old life either, don’t you?

Lucifer mostly ignores him. “If you want a honest job for a change, and I get that, you can always fake some other licence or something and start over somewhere else.”

Sam shakes his head. “Yeah, if it was just about me. It’s not just about me though.”

“I don’t see why starting over should bother your brother that much.” Lucifer looks more curious than anything else now though. So maybe there’s still a chance to fix this. It just includes revealing a lot more than he’s planned to. Oh well.

Sam takes a deep breath. For a moment he stares at the ceiling to collect his thoughts, then he starts to talk. “When I was just a baby and Dean was four years old, our house burned down. Our mother died in the fire. Dad’s been … dad’s been not quite right since then.”

There’s a hand on his shoulder suddenly, and when Sam turns his head, he’s looking into Gabriel’s whiskey colored eyes. Hastily he looks away again.

“He had this theory that it was more than an accident,” he goes on. “Something killed her. No one believed him, but he was so sure. So he searched by himself, and after a while he became convinced it was a demon.”

The bed dips on his other side, and now there’s Lucifer there, too, blue eyes less closed off than before. Sam breathes a bit easier.

“Dean and me spent our childhood on the road and in motels always hunting for that demon. The burglaries and the credit card scams and all that were just a side effect, because the hunt occupied dad so much he didn’t have time for a real job.”

There’s no sound from both of the brothers now. Sam doesn’t dare look, just stares up at the ceiling. “It got worse over time. He was convinced he was getting closer. The older Dean and me got, there more obvious it became that dad was imagining things, but what were we supposed to do? We tried to keep him out of trouble as best as we could. Then he thought the demon had managed to possess Dean.”

Sam swallows. He’s never told anyone about this before. “He messed up Dean pretty bad. Finally, I found an exorcism online and read it and that convinced dad the demon was gone. But it couldn’t go on like that, so we admitted him to the mental hospital.” He’s talking fast now, trying to get to the end of the story. “We took some odd jobs, but especially Dean needed a change in his life, get off the road. We scraped together all our money and got him that bodyguard training and licence. Thought it would be a good idea to actually save people for a change, not just from imaginary monsters. We didn’t have enough money to pay for my training too, but Dean taught me everything he learned and dad had drilled us pretty well, we both know how to fight.”

Finally Sam props himself up on his elbows, looking first at Gabriel, then at Lucifer. There’s no hostility any more in Lucifer’s eyes. At least that’s something. “Dean needs stability right now and he’s happy guarding Raphaela. I’ll do anything so that won’t get taken from him.”

There’s a moment of silence. Then Lucifer slaps the back of Gabriel’s head.

“Ou!” Gabriel protests. “What was that for?”

“You made him fear he’d lose this.”

Gabriel’s eyes go wide. “Fuck! I’m so, so stupid!”

Sam manages a grin. “Say that a few thousand more times, will you?”

Gabriel glares at him, at least until Sam smiles, then his features go soft all of a sudden.

“I’m sorry for thinking you might do something shitty,” Sam says.

A slow grin spreads on Gabriel’s face. “Say that a few thousand more times.”

Okay, Sam probably should’ve seen that coming. “For the future, if you let me do my job and I don’t have to do anything that’ll reflect badly on Dean, there’s a good chance I’ll be on board with whatever you’re planning.”

Gabriel’s grin gets wider. “I’ll attribute that to our good influence, too.”

That grin is definitely contagious. “Totally.”

After a moment Gabriel turns to Lucifer. “I’m gonna fact check his story later, but you do believe him now, do you?”

There’s a sigh at Sam’s other side. “Yeah, I do.” When Sam turns his head, he looks into blue eyes that hold as much interest as they did before. Nothing closed off any more. “Sorry about being paranoid.”

Sam smiles, feeling a bit light headed from relief all of a sudden. “It’s alright. Are we good now?”

Lucifer leans down, making Sam’s breath catch with how close he suddenly is. “We are.”

* * *

By an unspoken agreement they wait until Gabriel heads to the bathroom to shower, before Lucifer presses Sam down into the mattress and attacks his mouth as if he’s trying to claim him. “So …” he breathes into Sam’s ear after a while. “You offered to let Gabe fuck you.”

Sam shrugs, trying his best not to look ashamed. “I said I’d do anything and it wasn’t very hard to see that he wanted to.”

Lucifer chuckles. “That’s all? Not interested in him at all?” He kisses down Sam’s neck. “Be honest.”

“I’m his bodyguard!” Sam’s hands find their way under Lucifer’s shirt.

“That’s basically you saying you’d totally fuck him, if you weren’t trying to stay professional.”

“You realize …” Sam breath hitches, when Lucifer bites down slightly. “You realize, you made it clear that what we did was a casual thing and you have no right to be jealous?”

There’s a pause that’s a bit too long. “I’m not jealous,” Lucifer says finally. “Okay, yes I am. But I’m also wondering, you know. Since you have to watch him all the time that we’re on the road and we won’t be able to catch many moments on our own … how high are the chances for something happening while he’s around? I’m pretty sure he’d be on board.”

“Zero.”

“That’s a pity …” Lucifer’s fingers trail up the inside of Sam’s thigh. “Because that means we’ll probably have to stop this and go down for breakfast, before any of us gets off.”

Sam groans. This trip’ll definitely get … interesting. Sam finds himself actually looking forward to it, though.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry about John!


	15. A Talk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which they're cheating at poker and there's a very serious talk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The second half of this chapter will have drama again. But it will be as good as resolved by the end of the chapter. (And the first half is funny, I promise.)
> 
> Also, I have to thank the very wonderful [Coplins](http://archiveofourown.org/users/coplins) for the idea that Gabriel knows morse code. She asked me why Gabriel has so many old phones in his room and I explained that I just wanted something that fit thematically with him being the messenger of god, so he's interested in a lot of things having to do with all kinds of methods of communication. And her was reaction was: "Does he know morse code, too?"  
> He does.

They get in the bus again. On the road Lucifer, Balthazar, Meg and Cas start a game of poker. When Gabriel tries to join them, Balthazar and Meg shoo him away.

“You’re not allowed near the table any more while your brother plays,” Meg tells him.

“Or the other way around,” Balthazar adds.

She nods. “Until we figure out how you do it.”

It’s not hard to guess for Sam what the brothers did. Definitely something that made them win a lot.

Lucifer smirks, while Gabriel at least tries to feign innocence. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Gabriel,” Castiel warns him. “You can take turns, but we will not have you both at the same table after the drunk strip poker incident last time.”

Gabriel grumbles something, but retreats to the lower one of the bunk beds with his laptop. Sam follows, leaning against the frame of the upper bed, seeing that Gabriel is online again. He opts to ask about that rather than the drunk strip poker incident. He isn’t sure, if he wants to know about that. “This bus has wifi?”

“You bet it has, kiddo,” Gabriel says. “And normally I’d appreciate the view, but would you mind stepping aside?”

Sam does and Gabriel peers past him towards the table. You can see Balthazar’s hand from here. Gabriel taps a short rhythm on the frame of the bed and Lucifer’s smile gets wider.

Sam looks at Gabriel with narrowed eyes, and the shorter man winks at him. “Morse code,” he whispers. “One of the few tricks he learned from me.”

Apparently cheating when playing cards with your friends isn’t against the rules. He rolls his eyes and turns to walk away. Gabriel catches one of his belt loops though and pulls him back.

“I need you to do something for me, Samshine.”

By now Sam thinks he can see a pattern in the nicknames Gabriel has for him. Samshine is for when he’s trying to be nice. Which in this case probably means he wants something problematic. Sam turns back, leaning his forehead against the upper bed frame, looking down at Gabriel. “What is it?”

Gabriel lowers his voice. “We’ll be in Los Angeles by evening. That’s where Dick lives.”

“I already said I’m on board with that.”

“Yeah, and that’s great. But I can’t find out enough about his security system from here. One of us has to do surveillance by actually walking down the street by his house and looking. And you’re the only one he definitely won’t recognize.”

“That’d mean I’d have to leave you somewhere.”

Gabriel rolls his eyes. “I swear, I’ll stay in my hotel room. Luci can keep watch. Nothing will happen.”

Sounds pretty safe. Still, Sam bites his lower lip trying to make a decision. It’d be stupid to do the break-in without proper surveillance beforehand, so much is for sure.

“If it makes you feel better, you can even tie me to something so I don’t run off.”

Sam’s thoughts come to a screeching halt at that. He licks his lips, trying not to imagine what Gabriel would look like tied up.

“Oh,” Gabriel purrs. “Would you like that?”

“Shut up,” Sam says. “I’ll do the surveillance.”

“It’s cute how you always act like you don’t enjoy it at all, but every time we plan something forbidden there’s that spark in your beautiful eyes.”

“Keep that up and I will actually tie you to something.”

Gabriel waggles his eyebrows. “Is that supposed to be a promise or a threat?”

Sam huffs a laugh. “You’re unbelieveable.”

* * *

There’s not even time to check into the hotel, before the next concert starts. Sam and Gabriel watch again, Gabriel leaning against Sam, who tries not to worry about how comfortable he feels with this.

When they get to the hotel afterwards it’s already midnight. Gabriel goes to get the keys.

“There’s another gig at the same spot tomorrow,” Lucifer explains. “So we can sleep in, but try all to be upright at least two hours before we start.”

Tomorrow morning is when Sam’s supposed to do his surveillance run. The break-in will go down after the concert in the middle of the night. It’ll be a long day.

Balthazar’s already eyeing the receptionist. “Some parts may still be upright then, yes.”

Castiel rolls his eyes. “If you have to brag, at least make it sound realistic.”

Gabriel takes his time at the welcome desk, and when he comes back he only has two keys. “Looks like they lost Crowley’s reservation. I got two double beds, that’s all they had left.”

There are collective groans at that, though Lucifer eyes his brother a bit suspiciously. Sam feels the same.

“I’ll take the bunk bed in the bus,” Balthazar declares. He doesn’t look particularly sad about it. Probably a good way to find someone for the night, if he offers to give a tour around the tour bus.

Gabriel throws one of the keys to Meg. He keeps the other and looks at Sam and Lucifer. Oh well. The world won’t end from this. Sam just shrugs. “I hope those beds are big.”

* * *

The bed is big enough that all three of them will fit, though it will get cozy.

“Me in the middle?” Lucifer asks, while Sam’s still busy finding a spot for his duffle bag where no one will fall over it. Apart from the bed there isn’t much room for anything else.

“If you can keep your hands off Sammykins,” Gabriel says.

“As if you’d mind a show.”

“Since Samwise the Professional doesn’t want me to watch or participate, I do. There’s teasing and then there’s torture.”

This has to be a new record in how fast the conversation turns dirty as soon as they’re alone. Sam sighs.

“A pity you feel that way, because …” Lucifer drops his voice to a whisper.

Sam turns around fast. Those two whispering can’t mean anything good. He can see Gabriel’s eyes go wide. Then a wicked grin blooms on the shorter man’s face. Definitely nothing good.

Gabriel nods, and Lucifer steps even closer, ducks his head, one hand cupping Gabriel’s cheek. They won’t, will they?

They do! Sam’s breath catches, when Lucifer’s lips touch Gabriel’s. It’s almost chaste for a second, then Gabriel makes a small needy sound in the back in his throat, wraps his arms around Lucifer and kisses him in earnest.

And Sam knows he should say something or leave, but his feet are frozen to the spot. This is most likely the hottest thing he’s seen in a long while, and the little side glances Lucifer is throwing in his direction make it very clear that this is intended for his viewing pleasure. Fuck, this isn’t fair!

When they separate, Lucifer’s wearing a very smug look. “Like what you see?”

Sam has to clear his throat, before he can answer. “You’re not playing fair.”

“Comes with the name.” Lucifer ducks his head down again, this time kissing down Gabriel’s throat. Gabriel tilts his head back, gaze locked with Sam’s under heavy eyelids.

And Sam should definitely leave, sit in the hotel bar for a while. Maybe they do decide to carry on without him and get rid of some sexual frustration. But of course the thought of the two of them fucking doesn’t help at all. This time it’s Sam who’s making a small noise in the back of his throat. Gabriel winks at him. Bastard.

He can see Lucifer biting down on Gabriel’s collar bone slightly, and Gabriel gasps. “If you mark me up, I’ll kick your ass.”

Lucifer chuckles and bites again.

“I mean it. I’m not yours to keep.”

Wait … that sounds strange. “What do you mean by that?”, Sam asks.

All of a sudden Gabriel goes serious. He pushes Lucifer away. “You haven’t talked to him about it?”

What is it now? “About what?”

“Nothing,” Lucifer says. It doesn’t sound very convincing.

Gabriel glares at him. “I thought you had after our talk yesterday. Luci, we’re not doing this, while there’s the danger of you not telling me when I overstep, because you haven’t gotten your shit together yet!”

This doesn’t sound good at all.

“Fine.” Lucifer turns, avoiding Sam’s eyes. “Then I’ll be at the bar, see if Balthazar is still there.” With that he’s out.

Confused Sam looks at Gabriel. “What was that?”

Gabriel pinches the bridges of his nose. “Since he can’t find the courage to tell you … He only marks the things he wants to keep.”

Sam’s hand goes to the fading bitemark on his neck, and Gabriel nods gravely.

“Oh,” Sam says. So not casual at all? Lucifer actually cares for him? Only when there’s a little flutter of butterflies in his belly does Sam realize that he’s been hoping for that.

Gabriel smiles. “How about I go get some sleep while you go after him? I swear to all that’s holy I’ll stay right in this bed.” He points at it.

Sam nods, throat suddenly tight. For a moment he just stands there. Then he steps forward, places a kiss on Gabriel’s cheek, sees Gabriel’s face light up like the sun rising, and runs out of the room taking that image with him like protection from the most likely less fun things to come.

* * *

He finds Lucifer with Balthazar at a small table at the bar. One of Lucifer’s legs hanging over the armrest of his chair and he’s holding a glass of whiskey that’s almost empty already. The bottle is standing between them on the table. Again, they’re the only ones there. Balthazar spots Sam first and waves. “If Gabe’s coming too, it’s a party.”

Sam forces himself to smile, throwing side glances at Lucifer, who’s still avoiding his eyes. “He’s sleeping.”

“Oh, off guard duty for the night then?” Balthazar grins. “Just in case you’re more fun than the rest of the lot, there’ll be a few lovely ladies with me in the bus later tonight, and we wouldn’t mind company ...”

Lucifer’s eyes snap up at that. He doesn’t make a sound, but his jaw muscles are working. Seeing this makes Sam a lot more happy than it should. He actually does care.

“No, thanks,” Sam says and watches Lucifer relax instantly.

Balthazar seems to have picked up on it, too. He looks from Sam to Lucifer and back. “Oh well,” he says finally. “In that case, excuse me, there’s another lovely lady I’d like to invite.” He takes his drink and walks over to the bar, where an actually quite lovely female bartender is idly cleaning glasses.

Sam takes Balthazar’s spot and leans with his elbows on the table. Lucifer stares at him sullenly by now. Sam takes a deep breath. No use talking around it. “So …” Sam says. “You only mark the things you want to keep?”

“Don’t listen to Gabe. Why aren’t you with him anyway?”

“Because you’re the one who ran off and he promised to stay in the room.”

Lucifer scoff. “He’s too nice. He should just claim you for himself. I’ve seen the way you looked at him, when we were kissing. He totally could.”

The way Lucifer’s saying this breaks Sam’s heart. “I’m not a thing that can be claimed,” he protests. “That’s is not how it works.”

Lucifer sighs. “Yeah, wrong phrasing again. Thing is, you want him, he’s hopelessly in love with you, and the only reason you’re screwing me instead is you trying to stay professional and the fact that he barely dares do anything, because he’s still feeling guilty for the blackmail thing and is too afraid to step into my territory.” He cards a hand through his hairs, which makes it stick up in a pretty sexy way. “It was a fucking mistake to mark you or else he may have already managed to snatch you. Then I could be angry at him, instead of being angry at myself, because I’m selfish and I want to keep you as long as you let me no matter how you two feel about it.”

Oh great, this is a mess. But it can’t be as bad as Lucifer makes it sound. Gabriel can’t be actually in love with him, can he?

Either way Sam is not going to discuss this while Lucifer is in full possessive mode. “You’re still talking about me like I’m a thing,” he says gently.

“Sorry, but believe me, that’s the least offensive thing that’s going on in my head right now.”

“Yeah? So tell me about the rest.” Maybe he can talk Lucifer out of his upset state of mind a bit, then have a proper conversation.

“You really want to know?”

Sam nods.

“Okay, it’s a mess anyway now.” Lucifer chucks back the rest of his whiskey and pours himself a new glass. “When Gabriel revealed he had blackmail material on you, my first reaction was to be jealous. I’m still thinking about it a lot.”

Sam surprises himself by reacting with mostly curiosity to that. After the kind of self awareness Lucifer and Gabriel had shown during their talk yesterday, they’ll probably have to screw up big time, before he feels unsafe around one of them ever again. “What would you have me do?” There isn’t much he wouldn’t do out of his own free will, if Lucifer’s convincing enough. Hell, he’s almost gone along with a threesome just a few minutes ago.

“It’s not about what I’d want you to do, it’s about knowing that I could make you do whatever I want. I have my shit together well enough that I wouldn’t actually use it. I think. But knowing that I _could_ ...”

If you’re having possessiveness issues this probably makes a lot of sense. Sam leans back in his chair. “If you’re trying to scare me away, try harder.”

Lucifer huffs. “I’m just drunk enough to be honest right now.”

Sam sighs and decides to switch strategy. “Listen, I didn’t just make out with you, because I was trying to stay away from Gabriel. What’s between us is about us, not about him. And if you’d said you wanted it to be more than just casual …”

Yeah, what then? Sam thinks back to the way Lucifer’s mistrust has hurt, and he feels stupid now that he hasn’t realized it sooner, that there could be more.

Lucifer snorts. “Don’t dare telling me you have no interest whatsoever in Gabe!” 

And yes, that’s the confusing thing about all of this. Sam sighs again. “Since we’re being honest right now, I … seem to have a thing for both of you.” It’s surprisingly easy to admit now that things have gotten all messed up anyway, he has to agree with Lucifer there. “Doesn’t mean I can’t make a choice and stick with it, though.”

The confession makes Lucifer laugh bitterly. “Then go back to him, he’s the nicer one.” He makes a shooing gesture. “No one will hold it against you. I’ll personally kick Mike’s ass, if he gives you shit for not staying professional.” He drinks another big gulp of whiskey. “Get lost, before I get selfish again.”

“How about you stop trying to make my decisions for me instead?”

“How about you try not to break my little bro’s heart?”

That makes Sam want to cringe in guilt, but Gabriel can’t be in love with him. He’s sent him down here to talk to Lucifer. And now Lucifer’s sending him back again? Like a thing, now that he thinks of it, like something they can gift each other, because they think the other deserves it more or whatever. It would be kind of nice in a stupid way, if Sam wasn’t the one getting pushed around. And the more he thinks about that the angrier he gets.

“How about I just spend the night with Balthazar and his lovely ladies.” Sam stands up abruptly and walks towards the bar. It’s not like he actually wants to take part in an orgy tonight, but he’s so fed up with both Shurley brothers by now, he doesn’t think far ahead. He has just a vague notion about talking to Balthazar a bit, then maybe just spending the night here at one of the tables.

He makes it halfway to the bar, before Lucifer appears next to him, grabbing his wrist and pulling him towards the elevators instead. “We’re going back to our room,” he growls.

And the possessiveness thing can be annoying, but this is damn hot. “Did you decide to keep me after all?” Sam asks.

“Don’t phrase it like that, if you don’t want a collar with a name tag!” Lucifer stops in front of the elevators, pushing the call button. His grip around Sam’s wrist never loosens.

The elevator doors open with a _ding_. Lucifer drags Sam inside, punches in the number of their floor. The next moment Sam finds himself pinned against the back wall of the elevator, Lucifer’s face only inches from his. When Sam tries to lean towards him though Lucifer keeps him in place with his forearm across Sam’s chest. His free hand traces the fading bitemark, leaving a tingling trail on Sam’s skin. “I want you, Sam, but I really don’t want to hurt Gabe.”

Sam swallows and thinks about how Gabriel’s face had lit up at the simple kiss on the cheek. He likes to see that smile, he doesn’t want to hurt the younger Shurley brother either. “You really think he’s in love with me?”

“Since I’ve seen how hard he tried to make the blackmail thing right, yes.” Lucifer sighs. “I’m trying to convince myself since yesterday that I should give you up. I really thought you’re just using me to keep down the temptation of getting it on with Gabe. But all I could get myself to do was try and push you towards sharing, half thinking you’ll chose him anyway as soon as you’re past that professionalism thing.”

At least the sharing would probably have worked hadn’t Gabriel stopped it. Sam isn’t sure what to think of all of this. It’s a mess. No matter what choice he makes he’ll probably end up hurting someone, maybe even ruin the bond the brothers have by getting between them. And if worse comes to worse, he and Dean will lose their jobs, too. The most sensible thing would probably be to end things with Lucifer, too, keep them both at a distance, hope all three of them will get over it eventually …

Yeah, sure … Because keeping his distance has worked so well so far ...

“How do you manage it?” Sam asks to win some time. “When Balthazar offered me to join him, you looked like you were going to murder him. But sharing with Gabriel is alright?”

Lucifer shrugs. “With Gabe it’s something different.”

Sam has to think back to Meg’s theory about Gabriel and Lucifer being attracted to each other but not acknowledging it.

The elevator stops at their floor, but none of them moves. Instead, Lucifer finally gives in and leans closer to Sam as if he can’t resist the pull of Sam’s body any longer. And Sam can’t help it but slide one hand to the back of Lucifer’s neck and pulls him in for a kiss. This time, Lucifer doesn’t stop him.

“I know I shouldn’t even consider it,” Sam says after they separate, “but do you think sharing would actually work?”

Lucifer shakes his head. “Forget it. No one puts up with both of our shit at the same time.”

“I’ve been putting up with both of your shit since starting this job, and so far the worst thing that happened is that my professionalism is a joke by now,” Sam points out.

Now Lucifer looks thoughtful.

“So, purely hypothetically speaking,” Sam starts again, “how do you think it’d work?” Some part of him reminds him that he really shouldn’t, but that’s a small part that doesn’t enjoy being pinned to a wall by Lucifer immensely right now. It’s a terribly selfish thing to think, but he wants to keep this.

“The way I’d prefer it?” Lucifer smirks. “You’d be mine and I decide when and where and how.”

“Phrasing,” Sam reminds him gently.

Lucifer grips both of his wrists, pinning them against the elevator wall above Sam’s head. “You wouldn’t let me take charge?”

“Didn’t say that.” Sam struggles against the grip a bit to test how strong it is. He’s so lost it would be funny, if it wasn’t so serious. “I only object to ownership.”

“Good,” Lucifer purrs, kissing him again. “So, purely hypothetically speaking … There’s the chance you’d really want both of us?”

Sam wants to say yes, but he should probably give this a little more consideration. He owes it to all of them that he won’t make a decision like this while horny. “Let me think about it until tomorrow,” he says, arching his back, seeking more friction. “Can’t think clearly right now.”

Lucifer chuckles. “Sure thing, Sammy. Need a hand to clear your thoughts?” He changes his grip so that he’s holding Sam’s wrists with one hand. The other goes to cup the bulge in Sam’s pants.

Sam bites down a moan. “Here?” he manages to asks.

“Obviously not in our room until you made up your mind. Everybody’s sleeping. Just keep it down.” Lucifer gives Sam a moment to protest, then he goes to work on Sam’s pants buttons. “Tell me to stop, and I will, but I really want to see you come apart right now.”

“What about you?”

“I’ll wait until you made a decision.” With that Lucifer pulls Sam’s pants down just enough to free his dick and starts to jerk him off.

When Sam comes not much later, Lucifer kisses him, swallows every sound he makes. He keeps holding Sam’s wrists, when Sam lets his head fall back against the wall, panting. 

“You’re mine,” he whispers in Sam’s ear.

Sam laughs out of breath. “Phrasing.”

“Give me this. I’ll go back to sticking to the rules in a minute.” Finally Lucifer lets go of Sam’s wrists. While Sam pulls his pants up, Lucifer licks come from his hand, tongue flicking between his fingers, blue eyes locked with Sam’s. “Mine.”

It’s the second hottest thing Sam has seen today.

* * *

When they get back to the room, Gabriel’s sleeping or at least pretending to. Of course he’s lying right in the middle of the bed, hogging all the blankets.

Lucifer strips down to his boxers and slides in next to Gabriel, gently wrestling a blanket free with practiced ease. Gabriel turns in his sleep and snuggles against him.

Sam can’t help but smile. “You know your band thinks you and Gabriel are a thing?”

Lucifer scoffs. “We’re basically brothers.”

“You’re not and you made out today.”

“For your viewing pleasure,” Lucifer protests. Then he lifts an eyebrow. “Do I have to wake him to make him scoot over or will you survive sleeping next to him?”

Sam shakes his head. “I’ll survive.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope that worked for you that none of you will worry too much, because the next chapter will be a Dean chapter again.


	16. Detective Raphaela

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which there is a wardrobe problem and Raphaela sneaks a picture.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As promised, here's another Dean chapter!
> 
> Warning: Raphaela struggles a bit with how strangers misgender her occasionally. Dean is there to comfort her though. (I hope the way I presented this is okay. Tell me, if I did something wrong.)

It’s just a day after Sam has taken off with Gabriel and Lucifer’s band that Dean finds himself knocking on Raphaela’s door. They had been supposed to meet in the entrance hall to go interview some of the people that had been hired especially for helping out at the gala. The youngest Shurley sibling hadn’t shown though.

“Raphe!” Dean calls. “Everything alright?”

“Yeah …” her voice comes muffled through the door. It sounds like the opposite of alright. “I’ll be there in a minute.”

So he leans against the wall next to the door and waits. And waits.

Finally he knocks again. “Raphe, can I come in?”

Her reply takes some time. “Yeah … I guess …”

When he opens the door, he barely recognizes her. She’s wearing suit pants and a white button down shirt, hair pulled back. She’s sitting in front of her vanity table staring at her reflection in the mirror with the most unhappy face he’s every seen on her.

Dean closes the door behind him. “What’s up with the boy’s clothes?”

She doesn’t look at him. “If we’re asking serious questions, I kinda wanna be taken seriously, you know? And I’m not stupid, I know most people who look at me see a boy in girl’s clothes.”

Aw, shit. What’s he supposed to say to that? Sam would probably come up with something nice and reassuring. All Dean can think of is: “Everybody who doesn’t take you seriously has to answer to me.”

Now Raphaela turns towards him, brows furrowed. “Gabe gave me a job, so I’ll be the one to do it, not you.”

Okay, fuck. That was the wrong thing to say. Dean tries to think fast and lifts both hands to placate her. “Fine by me. You think you’ll do a good job miserable as you are?”

Anger flashes in her eyes, and now he can believe that she’s been part of a gang. It’s like she’s normally hiding that part of herself on purpose. “Well, I’ll just have to get past feeling miserable, have I?”

“Or you could dress the way you feel comfortable and make people take you seriously anyway.”

“How?”

Dean smiles. “The way you’re glowering at me right now is a good start.”

That makes her brows unfurrow a bit.

“Toning down the cuteness a little is probably a good idea, too, but you can do that and still look like a lady. You got some clothes that are a bit more business like? I mean girl’s clothes.”

Raphaela waves a hand towards her closet. “Not sure, take a look.”

So Dean opens the closet and starts rummaging through tons of colorful dresses. Good thing Sammy can’t see him now, he’d probably get all smug about Dean finally not being ashamed of getting in contact with his feminine side or whatever else he’s saying every time he catches Dean secretly crying over some chick flick on TV.

“Did you just call me cute?” Raphaela asks after a while, less grumpy.

Dean smiles without turning around. “Maybe.”

“Wasn’t aiming for cute at the gala.”

“You’re too young for me to call you anything else, little lady.”

That makes her giggle.

Dean finds a black skirt and a blouse that look a bit like business attire. Raphe pulls a face, when he shows them to her. “Aunt Amara bought me that. Never worn it.”

“Well, now’s the perfect opportunity.”

“It’ll never work. Will still look like a boy in girl’s clothes.”

“You gonna try and make it work or are you just gonna sulk?”

Raphaela jumps from the chair, practically rips the clothes out of Dean’s hands, and vanishes into the dressing room to change. He manages to hold his grin back until the door closes behind her. So that’s how to get her.

When she emerges, she still looks skeptical, but a lot happier than before. “Have to do something with my hair, too,” she says.

Dean motions for her to sit at the vanity table again and pulls her hair back into a bun to go with the look. When he’s done, she frowns at her own reflection.

“Listen,” he says. “You look good and you look like someone who can be taken seriously. Just keep your chin up and act like it, too, and you’ll be alright.”

After a moment she nods. “Can you do my makeup, too?” she asks.

“If I’m your bodyguard _and_ your personal stylist now, I should get a raise,” he jokes.

That makes her grin. “You should totally talk to Mike about that. He won’t be able to say no to you anyway.”

“Oh, come on, that can’t be true.”

“Try it.”

While he’s busy with Raphe’s makeup there’s a knock on the door.

“Come in!” Raphe calls.

It’s Michael. When he sees Dean, he stops at the door, brows furrowed. “What is this?”

“What does it look like?” Raphe answers, before Dean can say anything. “He’s doing my makeup.”

“Why is he doing your makeup while Jimmy is waiting in the hall for half an hour now? He came to me just now, asking, if you’re alright.”

Jimmy is the limo driver, if Dean remembers right. He sets the brush down he’s been holding. “Sorry. There was a wardrobe problem. We’re good to go now though, right, Raphe?”

Raphaela nods, but Michael’s brows furrow even more. “A wardrobe …” Suddenly his face goes soft as he seems to catch on. “Oh. Dean, would you mind waiting outside for a minute?”

“Yes sir.”

For once, Michael doesn’t even seem to notice, all his focus on Raphaela. And Dean knows that look from himself. It spells ‘worried older brother’.

Dean closes the door behind him as softly as he can and leans against the wall next to it again. It doesn’t take long until Michael steps out of the room. He smiles, when he sees Dean. “Thank you. Normally only Gabriel can talk her out of one of those moods.”

“Does she have them often?”

Michael shakes his head. “It’s getting better. She’s getting more confident. You did good though. I’m happy you get along so well.”

“Thank you, sir.”

That makes Michael stop right in front of Dean. He leans forward a bit and puts one hand against the wall right next to Dean’s head. “She also asked me a favor.”

“She did?” Dean’s heart speeds up from the proximity alone. It’s kinda embarrassing how hard he’s crushing on the guy.

There’s still a slight smile on Michael’s face. “Yes. She said I should, and I quote, ‘stop acting like a coward and ask Dean out for dinner already’.”

Bless the kid! Dean’ll do her makeup for the rest of her life for that.

“So,” Michael goes on, “would tomorrow evening be alright with you?”

“Yes sir.” That’s all Dean gets out at the moment, but as soon as he’s said it, he feels stupid for it. You don’t answer like that to an invitation to dinner. He clears his throat. “I mean, it would be my pleasure.”

Hazel green eyes stare into his as if Michael’s trying to decide, if he means it. “You know you don’t have to? As long as you get along with Raphaela you don’t have to fear for your job.”

That does it. There’s no way he can read the situation wrong now, and Michael would probably never make the first move with talk like that. So Dean pushes away from the wall a little and presses his lips to Michael’s.

For a split second Michael goes rigid. Maybe it wasn’t a good idea after all? Dean starts to pull back, but that’s the moment Michael starts chasing his lips. The back of Dean’s head thumps against the wall, then Michael’s tongue demands entrance. Dean opens his mouth willingly, lets Michael kiss him breathless.

It’s the kind of kiss that would normally demand more closeness, bodies pressed against each other. Michael keeps his distance though, keeps their lips the only point of contact, and that makes it even more intense. It’s good enough that Dean holds back from reaching out himself, tries to relax against the wall. When Michael straightens up after what feels like an eternity, Dean is breathing hard.

Michael clears his throat. “I’ll make reservations and let you know the exact time by tomorrow noon the latest.”

If Raphe’s right about her big brother, Michael is nervous as hell judging by the way how stiff he’s sounding. Knowing that helps calm Dean’s own nerves a little. He throws Michael a cocky grin. “Yes, sir.”

Michael’s eyes go dark. For a moment he looks like he’s going to kiss Dean again. “You really shouldn’t call me that.”

“Tell me to stop,” Dean challenges.

Michael doesn’t. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” With that he’s gone.

* * *

Dean’s a bit distracted for the rest of the afternoon, replaying the kiss in his head. He doesn’t have to do much though, mostly stand behind Raphe and look intimidating while she asks questions. She’s doing a really good job.

Still, they don’t learn much. No one has seen anything, and as far as Dean can tell they all seem to tell the truth. The check where everybody was at the time the manuscript got destroyed and it adds up, facts getting confirmed by different people independently. All of them say it shouldn’t have been possible for anyone to get to Chuck’s study, because Naomi had been everywhere, always checking that no one was slacking off.

“So,” Dean says, when sit in the limo again on their way back, “talk to Naomi next?”

Raphaela looks at him as if she hadn’t thought about that herself yet. She shakes her head. “If she’d seen anything, she’d have said so already.”

“Well, it looks like she’s the one who should’ve seen _something_ unless the manuscript just spontaneously combusted.”

Raphaela chews her lower lip. “She wouldn’t keep anything from us. She’s the longest serving person in the whole household. Dad trusts her.”

Dean shrugs. “It’s your investigation, but maybe she’s seen something and hasn’t realized it’s important.”

Slowly Raphe nods. Then she checks the time on her phone. “She’s probably home by now, but I’ll talk to her tomorrow.”

Before she can put the phone away, it buzzes. She reads the text she just got and smiles. After a moment she starts to type something. “I’m going to tell Gabe you and Mike kissed.”

“What?” Dean leans forward. “No! How do you even know we kissed?”

Raphaela grins, taps on her screen a bit more and then turns the phone towards him. There’s a picture of him and Michael obviously taken through a nearly closed door, because there’s the blurred edge of one at the right side of it. Apart from that it’s a pretty good picture, Dean has to admit. If not to say hot. Michael’s leaning over him with his hand against the wall exactly like the kind of guy Dean wouldn’t mind calling ‘Sir’ all the way through sex, and Dean likes how he himself is looking with his eyes half closed, completely focused on the kiss.

“You’re not going to send that to Gabriel!”

“Course not. I’m just gonna tell him.”

“Delete the picture, please.” It’s not that he minds much, but Michael might.

Raphe pouts. “Okay, okay … But I _am_ gonna tell him.”

Dean sighs. “If you have to. But if you insist on that, you have to send me the picture before you delete it.” There’s nothing wrong with keeping it for himself, isn’t there? After all, it is really hot.


	17. Benny and the Nerds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Sam makes a decision and new friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for everyone who made it through the drama. Here have a treat.

When Sam wakes up, there is a warm body pressed against him and an arm slung possessively around his waist. He blinks and shifts a little, which is met with unhappy grumbling and the arm tightening its hold.

“Don’t wake him.” That’s Lucifer’s voice. As Sam opens his eyes fully, he sees the punk sitting up with his back against the headboard of the bed. He’s looking down at Sam and Gabriel, whose head is resting against Sam’s shoulder. It looks like Lucifer has been watching them for a while, which is probably only fair since Sam has done the same before.

Sam turns his head to meet Lucifer’s eyes without moving anything else. “I’m supposed to do surveillance today. He asked me to. So I have to get up soon.”

“You got a few more minutes. Don’t. Wake. Him.” Lucifer is looking at Sam as if he’s trying to pin him down with a glare.

Sam gives a mock salute with the hand that’s not claimed for cuddling purposes by Gabriel right now.

“That’s better,” Lucifer purrs. 

Now it’s Sam’s turn to glare at the blond man, but he manages to hold it only until Lucifer grins. Good thing to see him happy again.

Gabriel shifts in his sleep and snuggles closer to Sam, pulling at him to get him into the best position, basically bossing him around while not even awake. His luck that he managed to end up between two guys that are as demanding as the two Shurley brothers.

“On Gabe’s phone I found a message Raphe sent yesterday evening,” Lucifer says after a while.

Sam furrows his brows. “Why were you checking his phone?”

“Because I woke up early and got bored and tried very hard to keep from going through yours. Gabe won’t mind.”

Sam finds himself looking at Lucifer through narrowed eyes trying to determine, if he’s kidding or not. “Thanks for respecting my privacy, I guess,” he says finally.

“You’re welcome. Anyway, apparently our brothers are getting really close at the moment.”

“What do you mean with really close?”

Lucifer grins. “Raphe saw them kissing.”

Sam gives a small soft laugh, suddenly feeling a little lighter. He’d never thought he’d ever be that happy about Dean’s tendency to charm his way into the pants of every attractive person available. But he’d spent half the night lying awake with his thoughts going in circles, trying to make a decision, and the fact that Dean apparently kissed their boss makes a lot of things better. Not all of them, because if he messes up, guarding Gabriel will still be hell, but at least it looks like he won’t risk his job with this. Except if Michael is a big hypocrite.

“So …” Lucifer says, word hanging between them for a moment.

Sam takes a deep breath. Time for a decision then. “You haven’t changed your mind?” he asks. “About being okay with sharing, I mean.” 

“Are you telling me I could really keep you for myself, if I say I have?”

Sam looks up into now very serious blue eyes and decides to let the phrasing slide for now. “Yes. I tried telling you that yesterday already.”

Lucifer bites the piercing in his lower lip, staring at Sam, saying nothing. He has that hungry look again, the one Gabriel said spells MINE in huge letters. It suits him way too well.

Since he doesn’t get anything but silence, though, Sam goes on. “I know you don’t want to hurt Gabriel’s feelings, but if we try this and it doesn’t work out, it’ll just make things worse. If you really want to do it, I’m game, but you have to be sure, too.”

Lucifer leans forward and then there are fingers in Sam’s hair playing with the strands. Sam closes his eyes and leans into the touch. 

Next to him, Gabriel stirs. He nuzzles into the crook of Sam’s neck, and suddenly, Sam can feel him breathing on the sensitive skin right above his collarbone. Fuck. Sam’s eyes fly open and he tries to draw a steady breath, but it hitches a bit.

Lucifer watches him with intense blue eyes, small smirk on his lips. “Yeah, totally looks like you could stick to just one of us.”

“From time to time I do think with my brain and not with my dick,” Sam says, trying to will said dick not to react to the circumstances. There’s the urge to put an arm around Gabriel and pull him closer, but he doesn’t. Instead after a moment Sam moves to wriggle out under him to prove his point.

“Stay,” Lucifer says.

Sam settles back into the pillows, part of him secretly happy about it, part of him feeling guilty for being happy about it. “Don’t get used to ordering me around like this,” he says to distract himself from the way Gabriel’s lips are almost touching skin.

Lucifer leans even closer. “Oh, so if I ask you to wake Gabe with a kiss, you wouldn’t do it?”

There’s a part of Sam that wants to start a new discussion, that wants to ask Lucifer again, if he’s sure about this. But of all people Lucifer won’t do anything to hurt Gabriel, he’s made that very clear. So he has to be sure, hasn’t he? And Sam is still afraid this will end up a mess, but he can feel his doubts melt away. He just wants to let go, wants to go with the suggestion.

So he holds Lucifer’s gaze while he turns towards Gabriel. He feels his heartbeat speeding up. This is actually going to happen. Sam brushes a strand of hair from Gabriel’s face who stirs a little under the touch, then looks up at Lucifer again.

“Second thoughts, Sammy?”

“What about you?”

“Come on, do it. And make it a proper kiss, not just a cute little peck on the lips.”

“Try being less bossy, will you?” With that Sam’s lips touch Gabriel’s.

He can tell the exact moment Gabriel wakes up, because there’s a very content but also confused sound. Sam pulls back to give him space to process things, to protest maybe. Just because they’re both mostly sure Gabriel won’t mind doesn’t mean he actually won’t after all. All it accomplishes though is that Sam finds himself pushed back and flipped around, until Gabriel can straddle him and kiss him again.

It takes a while until they come back up for air. Gabriel smiles down at him. “Morning Samshine.”

Sam laughs. “You had to do that, hadn’t you?”

“It was completely impossible not to.” Then Gabriel looks at Lucifer, getting a bit more serious. “This has your handwriting all over it, Luci. So thanks for the treat, but I need an explanation and we need some ground rules.”

Lucifer nods. “We do.”

Did he just thank Lucifer for the kiss? Fucking Lucifer? Again, like Sam’s something they can push around between them to give each other little gifts. Sam flips them around again until Gabriel is the one lying on his back. “I get that you only just woke up, but you should try that again.”

He can hear Lucifer laugh, but he doesn’t take his eyes from Gabriel. The smaller man bites his lower lip, probably goes over what he said to find what he did wrong. After a moment realization dawns on his face. “Of course I meant thanks for the treat, Sam,” he corrects himself. “Though it definitely _was_ Luci’s idea.”

Sam nods, giving bonus points for the use of his actual name. “Better.” A quick look in Lucifer’s direction tells him that the punk still seems completely fine with what’s going on, so Sam leans down to kiss Gabriel again. Maybe positive encouragement will accomplish something. And it feels nice to finally give in.

Gabriel makes a delighted sound and grabs a fistful of Sam’s hair to tilt his head the way he wants.

“But you know,” he says after they separate, “you do have to explain to me what kind of invitation this is. Because all I’ve gotten from you so far is no, no and no again and I don’t want to overstep. Not to mention that Luci has almost killed people for stepping into his territory before.”

“That’s an exaggeration,” Lucifer grumbles. “Also, I was drunk and already pissed at the guy for other reasons, too.”

Sam is pretty sure he wants to hear that story later. “Lucifer and I talked,” he explains. “Consider the kiss a promise for more to come later.” As much as he’d want to, he can’t stay in bed for much longer now. And that’s probably for the best, because they should take things slow. “If you want to,” he adds, because he can’t just assume, can he? “I have a surveillance mission to get to now, but Lucifer’ll explain what we came up with. If you have to, you can even discuss me in terms of territory while I’m gone. Whatever helps to make this work.”

Lucifer leans back with a grin. “You were right, Gabe, you know that? He’s perfect.”

Sam points a finger at him. “You get a free pass only for the word choice issue! I’m still not your property.”

Lucifer leans forward and kisses Sam, licking away Gabriel’s taste. “Don’t worry.”

As soon as Lucifer leans back, Gabriel flips them to be on top again. Lucifer grabs his shoulder and pulls him back though. “Don’t get greedy. You gave him a job, let him do it. We shouldn’t move too fast anyway.”

With a glare in Lucifer’s direction, Gabriel reluctantly climbs off Sam. “I can stick to whatever kind of rules you come up with, Luci, but you don’t get to boss me around.”

Lucifer grins. “Let’s see about that, shall we?”

Oh, this’ll get interesting. Hopefully not too interesting.

Sam showers quickly. When he steps out of the bathroom again, Lucifer is already filling Gabriel in about what happened yesterday. They both stop to watch him walk around in nothing but a towel, though. Sam glances in their direction, a bit self-conscious, but the way they look is kind of interesting. They don’t try to hide it, but it’s not the kind of staring that’d make you uncomfortable either. It’s more approving glances, Lucifer with a slight smirk, Gabriel with a bright spark in his eyes.

As soon as Sam is dressed, Gabriel slides something over the mattress in his direction that looks suspiciously like a platinum credit card. “In case you need anything. Just don’t use it in any way that could be incriminating. There’s my actual name on it.”

Sam takes it and just stares at it for a moment. It’s so easy to forget how fucking rich Gabriel and Lucifer are. Sam has never seen a platinum credit card before. He hasn’t even dared faking one, because they draw too much attention. The things you could buy with this …

“Sammykins?”

“I think you just broke him,” Lucifer says in a dry voice.

Gabriel chuckles. “Come on, Samalam. Focus.”

Sam shakes his head to make himself snap out of it. “Sorry, I just …”

“You were thinking about how much easier your life could’ve been, if you had one of these way sooner,” Gabriel finishes the sentence for him. “We’ve been there.”

Of course they have. They’ve had it worse than Sam after all. That’s also easy to forget.

“I’ll watch Gabe, while you’re gone,” Lucifer goes on. “We stay here, and by the time you come back, we’ll ...” He stops, seems to look for the right words. “We’ll have worked out our part in making this work.”

“Now get to it,” Gabriel prompts. “You have to be back, before the gig starts.”

Sam pulls himself together, puts the credit card in his pocket and leaves.

* * *

He uses Gabriel’s credit card to buy himself a coffee on the way, which seems like overkill. Then he buys a camera with a telephoto lens, which fits the platinum card better. What he knows from Gabriel already is that Dick Roman’s house is on the side of a hill. So when Sam gets there, he walks past it uphill. Of course there’s a wall around the house, blocking the view, so all he can see is the gate. He spots two security cameras there. They’re wireless as far as he can tell, so Gabriel should be able to hack them.

Sam sets a slow pace, taking pictures now and then to pass as a tourist. When he’s far enough up to have a good view over Dick Roman’s wall, he stops, acting like he’s trying to get a good picture of the city at the foot of the hill, while he zooms in on Roman’s house, taking as many photos as he can. There are no more security cameras on the premise, but signs of an alarm system on the windows. No way to get in through them, they’ll have to take one of the doors.

He walks back, a plan already forming. There’s a good chance they can do this without getting caught, and he tries to not feel excited about it, but he does.

When he passes Roman’s house again, there’s someone standing in front of the gate. Small, dark hair, black leather jacket. When Sam gets closer, he also sees somewhat asian features. The guy is talking into the intercom at the gate and not looking very happy. Curious, Sam slows down and pretends to be very interested in the bushes on the other side of the street, when he gets into hearing distance.

“... please,” the guy says. “We can’t play like this. I can manage maybe two songs, before I get hoarse again, and Benny’s wrist is broken, there’s –”

He stops, apparently interrupted. It’s hard to make out the voice that’s coming from the intercom, but then the guy talks again.

“We can’t afford the fine.”

Again, the voice from the intercom talks.

“Yeah,” the guy says after a moment. “Yeah, sure …” Then he steps back and kicks the wall hard enough that a bit of plaster falls off.

Sam walks over towards him. “I wouldn’t do that again!” he calls. “You’ll just get sued for damage of property.”

The guy stops, eyeing him through narrowed eyes. “Great advice,” he says in a dry voice. “Why don’t you mind your own business?”

“Because I may be able to help.” Sam stops just outside of the radius of the cameras. No need for him to appear on the tapes the morning before the break-in.

“Yeah?” The guy doesn’t look convinced. “How do you even know what kind of problem I have?”

Sam shrugs. “Let me guess. You’re in an oppressive contract with Dick Roman and you have to either play a gig tonight or pay a fine for not fulfilling said contract.” After what Lucifer and Gabriel told him that’s not a hard guess.

The guy eyes him even more suspiciously now. “How do you know?”

“I’ve friends that have been there and gotten out.” He eyes the security cameras again. Better not stay here any longer. “Walk with me for a bit and I’ll tell you how.”

* * *

As it turns out, the guy’s name is Kevin Tran. He’s the lead guitarist and one of two singers of a band that’s called Benny and the Nerds. They really do have a gig tonight, interestingly at the same place The Fallen do, only a few hours earlier. Their problem is that Kevin has a sore throat and their bassist Benny a broken wrist. The only one that’s ready to play is their drummer, Charlie. Sam feels bad for them, but he’s also thinking that Gabriel and Lucifer can maybe use this to get back at Roman. He’s definitely too deep in their little scheme by now.

Sam texts Gabriel about his find. Minutes later Kevin and his band are invited to meet The Fallen at the hotel so they can figure something out. Kevin texts his bandmates, while he and Sam take a taxi back that’s paid for by Gabriel’s platinum card.

While they’re on their way there is another text from Gabriel:

**You did good. We can maybe use this. Talk more later.**

Sam probably shouldn’t feel so good about the praise.

Fifteen minutes later they’re sitting with Kevin in the hotel bar. Ten minutes after that a red headed girl and a massive guy with a cajun accent arrive to join them. By now, Lucifer has also called Crowley, who’s on speaker on Lucifer’s phone lying in the middle of the table. The contract for him to be the new agent of Benny and the Nerds is as good as set up already.

Sam half listens, half keeps an eye on the other people in the lobby to actually do his job for a change.

“Sorry,” Crowley’s voice comes over the speaker. “I’m good, but I can’t work miracles. It’ll take a few weeks to get you out of the contract with Dick.”

“And we can’t just take their gig over for them?” Lucifer asks.

“No, love. It’s their gig, so at least parts of the band have to actually be on the stage to fulfill the contract.”

“Why don’t we just lend them Cas?” Balthazar asks.

“I’d be happy to help out.” Castiel says.

The discussion goes on for a while. Benny not only plays the bass, he also has singing parts. So he’ll stay on stage for those, while Castiel plays the bass parts. Kevin insists that he can sing at least two songs, after that Lucifer or Balthazar have to take over. That leads to both of them sharing a pair of earphones to listen to some of the songs. Sam steals glances at Lucifer now and then, fascinated by the way the punk seems to forget everything around him, while he’s concentrating on the music. After a while, Lucifer shakes his head. “I could sing it, but it’d sound completely different.”

Balthazar pulls a face. “I can do some of the songs, I think, but for others I don’t have the range.” He nods to Kevin as a sign of respect and the kid seems to grow a bit, even though that doesn’t solve their problem.

Meg pulls on one of her piercings lost in thought. After a while she turns to Charlie. “Have you ever done a drum battle?”

Charlie’s face lights up immediately. “I always wanted to!”

Suddenly excited, Meg starts to explain her plan, but most of it gets lost in a high pitched shriek that comes from the direction of the door. Sam turns immediately and sees two girls that stare at the group at their table, jumping up and down with flailing arms. “Oh! My! God!” one of them screams. “It’s Lucifer!”

Gabriel leans over to Sam. “As for the next few minutes, you’re Luci’s body guard, too. Go do your thing.”

“On it.” Sam is already getting up. He blocks the path of the girls that make a beeline for their table. “Sorry, the band is in the middle of something important right now.”

They pout, trying to steal glances at Lucifer past him. “Can we at least take a picture?”

“You can take a lot of pictures at the gig tonight.”

“It’s okay, Sam.” Lucifer comes up behind him and puts a hand on Sam’s shoulder, leaning close to his ear for a moment to lower his voice. “We’re not that famous, let me enjoy this.”

So Sam just keeps an eye on things, while Lucifer takes a selfie with the girls. After they’ve thanked him for it, they whisper between them for a moment, one of them nudging the other. The second one turns beet red. “Uhm …” she starts. “We’ve been wondering …”

“She wants you to sign her boobs!” the other one blurts out.

For a moment Lucifer looks taken aback, but then he smirks. “No problem.” After he says it, he throws Sam a look and a wink as if he wants to say: ‘Watch me.’ It takes Sam a moment to remember that Lucifer has told him himself that he’s completely gay, there is no reason for him to look so damn happy about getting to sign a boob. Except if it’s for the fact that Sam will be watching. Is Lucifer trying to make him jealous?

He definitely is. It gets obvious as soon as the girls hand Lucifer a sharpie and he leans way closer than necessary over the cleavage that has to be signed. In the end he even presses a little kiss next to his signature, and the only thing that keeps Sam from grabbing Lucifer and dragging him back to the table is that he’s distracted for a minute by the concern the girl might faint on the spot.

Thankfully, she doesn’t. She just stammers another thank and they both run off, giggling. As soon as they’re gone, Sam steps right into Lucifer’s personal space. “What the fuck was that?”

“Yeah, really,” Gabriel’s voice comes from behind them. “Luci, what the fuck was that?” He’s come over from the direction of the table, and now Sam notices that the others are in the process of leaving, most likely for a less public place.

Lucifer grins at Sam. “Payback for you acting like you wanted to join Balthy’s orgy.”

Oh, yes. Suddenly Sam finds himself carding a hand through his hair and avoiding Lucifer’s gaze. He probably earned that.

Gabriel’s nostrils flare at the mention of Balthazar and his orgy, but he doesn’t say anything. After a moment, he just turns towards where the others are entering an elevator at the other side of the lobby. “The others are going to Cas and Meg’s room. You coming?” Without checking, if they’re following him, he starts crossing the lobby.

They take the next elevator, just the three of them. As soon as the doors have closed, Gabriel grabs the front of Sam’s shirt and pulls him down for a thorough kiss. Sam kisses back, side glancing at Lucifer, though. The punk just watches them, arms crossed in front of him. So they actually have worked things out. Tension he didn’t even notice before leaves Sam’s body and makes him breathe more freely.

“Get a grip, Gabe,” Lucifer finally says. “Nothing happened with Balth.”

Oh, so this isn’t just a kiss, it’s a claim. Hadn’t Gabriel known about the thing with Balthazar before? And by the way, how had Sam managed to get used to possessive behaviour so fast that he doesn’t even bat an eye at it any more?

Gabriel breaks the kiss and turns to Lucifer. “Tell me you handled it better!”

Sam straightens up again and leans back against the elevator wall. “He didn’t.”

Lucifer glares at him. “Thanks for having my back here.”

“Come on,” Sam says, “you just kissed a random girl’s boob to get back at me for it. There’s no secret to be kept!”

That makes Lucifer grin. “Did it work, though? Because boobs are weird, I don’t want to have kissed one for nothing.”

Sam laughs, then he pushes himself from the wall and takes two steps towards Lucifer, pulling him in for a kiss by his spiked collar.

“We have to get you one of these,” Lucifer murmurs against his lips. “I want to do that, too.”

Sam has to admit he likes the idea. “No name tag,” he says.

“No name tag,” Lucifer agrees.

“While we’re at it, can we get you pants with holes in them, too?” Gabriel asks.

Sam rolls his eyes. “If it makes you happy.” He catches the mischievous glint in Gabriel’s eyes almost too late. “There has to be more fabric than holes!” he hurries to add.

“Damn.” Gabriel grins.


	18. Bossy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the law gets broken.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The build up was probably too much by now to still do it justice, but here is the break-in.
> 
> The last part of this chapter was added because my wonderful beta reader [coplins](http://archiveofourown.org/users/coplins) asked for it.

Not much later Sam and Gabriel find themselves in the first row in front of a stage once again. Gabriel is leaning against Sam like always, but this time it’s not the harmless kind of leaning. Gabriel’s ass is pressed firmly against Sam’s crotch, and Sam acutely feels every single movement he makes. Sam wonders, if Gabriel is planning to keep that up for the next few hours, because that would definitely be torture. 

“Ah, before I forget.” Gabriel half turns in Sam’s arms – which doesn’t help at all. “For peacekeeping reasons none of us gets to touch you while the other isn’t around. For now. Until we get a bit more used to this.”

Okay, he can live with that. Still Sam lifts an eyebrow looking down at Gabriel. “What do you call what you’re doing right now?”

The shorter man grins, turns to the stage again and wiggles against Sam in a way that makes him bite back a gasp. “Totally keeping my hands by myself.” He lifts both of them to prove his point.

Such a little shit, though Sam finds himself thinking that with quite a bit of affection. “Sounds like the peacekeeping is going really well.”

“Come on, you didn’t expect us to be nice and civil about this all the time, did you? Where would be the fun in that?”

Sam rolls his eyes. Gabriel is right, he totally expects Lucifer to try something similar as soon as he gets the chance. “I’m so glad I can provide entertainment for both of you.”

“Knew you would be, Sammykins.” While Gabriel talks, the spotlights come to life and shine their light on two drumsets on the stage, Charlie and Meg sitting behind each of them.

Next Benny steps on the stage. As soon as whistles and cheers from the audience die down, he explains the state of the band and that they have a special treat for their fans, though. Then he explains the drum battle. Meg starts a rhythm, Charlie has to copy it. It’ll get more complex the longer they go on, and when one of them messes up, the other takes the lead. The fans are excited.

The drum battle goes on for a while, Benny keeping up a quite entertaining running commentary all the time. Finally, Charlie changes the rhythm again, and Cas comes on the stage, picking it up on the bass. Next is Kevin, and they all launch into the first song.

After two songs, Kevin really has to excuse himself, already a bit hoarse. He stays for playing his guitar parts, while Balthazar steps up to sing. All around Sam and Gabriel the fans of Benny and the Nerds seem more than happy about the arrangement.

An hour later, Benny and the Nerds are done. They exit the stage, and Lucifer steps up instead, the only one of The Fallen, who hasn’t helped out. Shortly after, a by now familiar song fills the air. Lucifer is basically radiating today, a red stage light behind him making it look like he has a bloody halo. It suits him, Sam decides.

“Say, Sammykins ...” Gabriel lets his head fall back against Sam’s shoulder to look at him upside down.

“Hm?”

“Is that a gun in your pocket or are you just happy to see my brother?” For emphasis, he wiggles his butt against Sam’s crotch again.

Sam bites back a moan and does his best to roll his eyes at the very bad use of very old quotes. “That was so bad it almost hurt, you know.”

“Come on, you deserve cheesy old quotes for making moon eyes at him again. Doesn’t that get boring at some point?”

Oh, is someone jealous? Sam grins down at Gabriel. “You said it, too. That he’s hot on stage.”

The shorter man huffs. “Yeah, sure, because I have eyes. But I’m not staring at him all the time as if I’d want to drop to my knees in front of him any minute now.”

“I’m not staring like that!” Sam protests.

“Sure you do. You’re basically blasting: ‘I want to lick every inch of him.’”

Maybe he does. Sam refuses to get defensive about it, though. Maybe it is their influence, but he really doesn’t want to apologize for his feelings any more, even if they’re as basic as red hot desire every time he sees Lucifer singing on stage. Time to turn this around. Sam leans closer towards Gabriel’s ear, until his lips almost brush the shell, makes his voice drop into something sultry. “Tell me you don’t want to.”

“With you, yeah.”

“No, with him.”

“He’s practically my brother!” Gabriel protests, though it sounds a bit weak.

They’re really hung up on that, aren’t they? “No, he isn’t.”

* * *

They return to the hotel with the others, because they might have a break-in to get to, but they can hardly just vanish after the gig. To Sam’s surprise, Charlie accompanies them, leaning into Meg most of the time, while both of them whisper excitedly. When they arrive at the hotel, Meg grabs her hand and pulls her towards the elevators fast. They are gone without waiting for the rest of them.

Sam lifts an eyebrow and turns towards Castiel, just to find the bassist share a heated kiss with Balthazar. What the fuck?

Next to him, Gabriel sniggers. “Your face is priceless, Sam-my-jam.”

That is definitely the worst nickname so far. Sam opts to ignore it. “Did they have a fight?”

Lucifer laughs. “No, they just do that from time to time.”

At least, that way no one will wonder where they’ve gone. They hurry up to their hotel room for a moment, and Lucifer sheds most of his piercings and the collar, too. Then he looks down at his t-shirt, that has the name of a punk rock band on it as always, and next at Sam. “Lend me one of your flannels, will you? That’ll hopefully keep most people from recognizing me.”

As it turns out, he looks pretty good in one of Sam’s shirts.

* * *

On their way to Dick Roman’s house they go over the plan again. Roman will be home, but he’ll be sleeping. According to a few closer acquaintances Lucifer has talked to to find out as much as possible about Roman he uses sleeping pills, so he should be out for good. Their objectives are tapping Roman’s phones and looking for whatever else they can use against him.

“I had an idea,” Gabriel says. “Let’s try and find a list of every band under an oppressive contract with Dick. Hand it to Crowley and see how many people he can turn away from him.”

Lucifer laughs. “If only half of them leave, that’d be the greatest prank we ever pulled!”

“And it’d hit right where it hurts,” Gabriel adds grinning. “In the money.”

* * *

As soon as they reach Roman’s house, Lucifer pushes Sam against the wall and claims his mouth with his lips. Gabriel makes a show of complaining and then leans next to them, fiddling with his phone. Or at least that’s what it looks like. In reality he’s busy hacking the security cameras, while Sam and Lucifer are providing an excuse for them stopping here in the middle of the night.

“And done,” Gabriel says after a while.

Very reluctantly, Sam pushes Lucifer away and adjusts his boner in his pants. Lucifer sniggers (as if he doesn’t have the same problem right now) and looks around. Most of the houses are surrounded by walls that don’t allow for the occupants to see the street. And Sam has made sure there are no security cameras on other houses that show this part of Roman’s property and that they’re as far away from any street lights as possible.

“All clear. Help me up, Sammy.”

Sam gives Lucifer a leg-up, and he vanishes at the other side of the wall. Gabriel is next. He steals a quick kiss, before he lets Sam help him up. Sam isn’t sure, if this is breaking the ‘No touching while the other isn’t around’-rule, since Lucifer is on the other side of the wall. He enjoys it anyway. He himself reaches the top of the wall with a jump and pulls himself up and over. A few seconds later he lands in the grass on the other side.

Gabriel’s eyes twinkle in the moonlight. “I wanna see you do something like that in broad daylight again.”

“Save the compliments for later.” Lucifer takes off towards the house. Sam and Gabriel follow him as silently as possible. They stop at the back door. The whole house is dark and silent, so Lucifer goes to work on the lock. Sam watches him with interest. He works fast and efficient, and he catches Sam looking, as the door clicks open. He throws Sam a wink and opens the door for him.

Sam stops at the doorstep. “As soon as I step in, I have a minute to disarm the alarm system. Don’t follow me until I say so.”

Both Shurleys nod. Sam slips into the house and pulls a small screwdriver and a flashlight from his pocket. There’s a small white box on the wall with a number pad. If he knew the code, he’d just have to type it in to disarm the alarm. He doesn’t, though. He works as fast as possible, takes the cover panel from the box, sets it down carefully to avoid noise, studies the wires for a moment. Then he pulls his pockets knife out, cuts two of them and twists them together in a different order, rerouting signals. When he’s done, he takes a step back and holds his breath.

Nothing happens.

“Okay,” he says after a moment. “Either there was a silent alarm or I did it.”

“Very reassuring.” Gabriel strolls in first.

“Lets just hurry,” Lucifer says. “Do your thing with the landline phone, Gabe. I’ll try and find his cellphone. Sam, go look for the contracts.”

Sam and Gabriel share a look, and Gabriel rolls his eyes and mouths ‘bossy’. As if he’s any better.

* * *

It doesn’t take long for Sam and Gabriel to find Dick Roman’s office and a big folder labeled ‘contracts’. Sam takes picture of as many of them as he can, always of the first page that has the name of the band and some information about how to contact them and of the pages that details the rights and obligations of both contracting partners. That way Crowley will be able to tell which of the contracts are oppressive and which aren’t. Then Sam waits for Gabriel to finish his work on the phone.

Gabriel is almost done, when Lucifer knocks on the door with the signal they agreed on and Sam lets him in. The punk holds Roman’s cellphone up, grinning. “There’s a voicemail from Metatron on there from yesterday.”

“What does it say?” Sam asks, more excited about the find than he probably should be.

“Haven’t listened to it yet.”

So they huddle together on the couch that’s standing on one wall of the office, Gabriel and Sam both with their chins on Lucifer’s shoulders while they listen to it.

“That’s very good news,” Marv Metatrons voice comes from the speaker. “Nice piece of good fortune that poor Chuck can’t keep his deadline. I mean, it’s shocking, of course, what happened to his manuscript. Very tragic. I feel bad for him, but in all modesty, I’m sure the marketing budget that can’t be spent on him now will be very well invested in my book. I’ll have to congratulate my editor for the wise decision next time I speak with her. And by the way, I refuse to tolerate you accusing me of having to do anything with Chuck’s streak of bad luck. We’re working so well together at the moment, we shouldn’t sour our relationship with allegations like that.”

There’s silence for a moment after the message stops. Lucifer is the first to speak.

“Fucking hell!”

“He gets dad’s marketing budget, because dad can’t keep his deadline!” Gabriel breathes. “If that isn’t a motive, I’ve never seen one in my life before.”

“He denied it, though,” Sam points out. “And he wasn’t even near the gala.”

“I don’t fucking care what he denied.” Gabriel snatches the cellphone from Lucifer. “I’m gonna make a copy of that and we’ll figure it out tomorrow. Now I finish tapping Dick’s phones. Stand watch, both of you. No screwing around!” He gets up and strides back towards where he left the landline phone.

Sam and Lucifer share a look. Lucifer grins and mouths ‘bossy’. Sam just shakes his head.

* * *

Gabriel is almost done with the cell phone, too, when there’s the sound of an alarm clock a few rooms over. Lucifer curses, Sam checks his watch. “It’s four in the morning!”

“Maybe he’s expecting a call from someone from the other side of the world or something,” Gabriel speculates without looking up from his work.

Just what they needed. Sam can feel adrenalin flooding through his body and takes a few steadying breaths. “Okay,” he decides. “That means we’re out. Through the window.” He points at it. Luckily, they’re at the first floor.

“I’m not done yet!” Gabriel protests.

“We have to put the cell phone back where we found it!” Lucifer says at the same time. “And he’ll notice an open window. He’ll know someone has been here.”

So let him know. Who cares? He’ll never know what they did anyway. Deeper inside the house a door gets opened and closed again. They really don’t have time for this. “We’re not sneaking around the house with him awake! It was risky enough with him asleep!”

“And since when are you in charge of all of this?” Lucifer asks.

“Since I’m the one who’s been breaking into houses since I was eight! Anyone with more experience here? No? Then out the window! Now!” Sam meets Lucifer’s eyes straight on and points again. Lucifer glares back at him.

“Done!” Gabriel announces. He puts the cell phone on Roman’s desk. “Maybe we should –”

“No!” Sam interrupts him.

He can see Lucifer and Gabriel share a look, Lucifer annoyed, Gabriel a bit amused. After a moment Lucifer shrugs and walks towards the window. “Bossy,” he mutters under his breath.

Seconds later they’re outside again, running towards the wall. They barely manage to duck between the bushes, before someone turns on the light in the office. Sam breathes a sigh of relief. That was close.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seriously, the last part of this chapter was only added to make the "bossy" joke one more time. That's the kind of thing that amuses me.


	19. Marks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which they figure a few things out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is smut in this chapter.

They get back to the hotel at around five in the morning, all giddy, because they actually did this, they actually pulled this off. Lucifer’s eyes glow a bright blue, Gabriel’s look like there’s actually sunshine in them. Joy bubbles inside Sam at the forbidden thing they just did without getting caught.

“Samshine, I need access to your phone to get the contract pictures on my laptop,” Gabriel says as soon as the door to their room closes behind them.

Sam nods and fumbles for his phone. “Bluetooth?”

“Should do the trick.”

“Friendly reminder, Gabe,” Lucifer says from behind Sam, “if you pull anything else than the contract pics off there, we got a problem. No. You do.”

For a moment Sam bristles at the protective tone. He can take care of himself. Then he reminds himself that this is their system and apparently the urge to go through his phone is a thing for them. So he takes a deep breath and relaxes.

Gabriel gives a lazy salute and smiles. Not much later Sam and Gabriel lie on their bellies on the bed in front of Gabriel’s laptop, while Lucifer is busy putting every single piercing back in its place. Sam steals glances now and then. There’s the one in Lucifer’s lower lip, one in his nose, three in his eyebrow, a ton of them in his ears. It takes a while.

He grins at Sam, when he catches him looking. “Never got any piercings yourself?”

Sam shakes his head. “Wanted one, when I was sixteen, but dad didn’t allow it. Said people could use it to identify me.”

“Fun childhood.”

Sam shrugs. “Looks like we all have that in common.”

Lucifer finishes with the piercings in his right ear and moves on to the left. “Mine got better when I ran away from home. I mean, even before dad found me. No one screaming at me any more. Should’ve done that sooner.”

“You liked living in the street better than living with your biological parents?” Suddenly, Sam is glad that John had at least tried to be a good father.

“Oh yeah.” Lucifer shrugs, and Sam recognises the gesture as the same thing he just used to put distance between himself and not so fun memories. “Living in the street was okay after the first few bumps in the road. Found a pretty good way to support myself.”

“By which he means,” Gabriel chimes in, “that he stalked rich people until they did something forbidden, took pictures of them and then made them pay for his silence.”

Sam laughs. “Better than stealing, I guess.”

“Oh, I did that, too.” Lucifer rolls a small silver ring between his fingers. “Though between all of our siblings, I think Gabe is still the one with the highest sum ever stolen.”

“Not my fault that you all stuck to picking pockets and breaking into small shops, while you could’ve hacked bank accounts.” Gabriel grins.

“Braggart,” Lucifer mutters. He puts the last piercing back in and picks up the spiked collar. He turns it in his hands and looks at it thoughtfully, then at Sam.

“Hey Sammy …”

“Hm?” Sam looks up from the screen of his phone. The transfer of pictures is almost complete. Though they probably should wait until tomorrow, before they try and make sense of everything they’ve learned today. Sleep starts sounding like a really good idea.

Lucifer lifts the collar. “I’d love to see how you look in this.”

Now Gabriel stops what he’s doing, too. Instead his gaze flits from the collar to Sam and back and interest sparks in his eyes. It’s nothing compared to the heavy desire in Lucifer’s, but the way Sam has both of their undivided attention now is kind of nice. The fact that he’s been teased so much today doesn’t help either. He wants them to keep looking at him like this. So he nods. Sleep can wait for a bit longer. “Okay.”

A smile with an edge pulls on Lucifer’s lips as he stalks closer. Sam sits up and scoots over to the edge of the bed, extending a hand towards the collar. Lucifer shakes his head. “Let me.”

Sam lowers his hand again and turns his back to Lucifer, heart beating faster. It shouldn’t. It’s just a small piece of leather and metal, lots of people wear something like that without it meaning anything. But by the time Sam can feel Lucifer’s touch on his skin and then smooth cool leather wrap around his neck, there’s a sly smile on Gabriel’s lips, too, like he’s just gotten a particularly nice treat. Lucifer’s breath ghosts over Sam’s skin, while he closes the clasp and then runs a finger under the collar to make sure it isn’t too tight.

Gabriel lifts an appreciative eyebrow. “I’m not into the collar thing as much as Luci is, but it looks really good on you. Clashes a bit with the flannel, though”

The attempt to bait him into stripping is pretty obvious, but Sam decides to play along. “Is that so?” he asks innocently. He holds Gabriel’s gaze, while he starts to unbutton his shirt.

Again, Gabriel’s eyes light up like the sun is shining through them, which makes Sam’s heart do a happy flip. There’s movement behind Sam and then Lucifer steps into his field of vision. His eyes are almost completely black. Sam tosses the shirt away and lifts an eyebrow at both of them.

“Fucking beautiful,” Lucifer breathes, and Sam can feel himself blushing a bit.

Gabriel grins. “I know something Luci would like even more.” He gets up from the bed, tugging at Sam to follow. As soon as they’re both standing, he pulls Sam down by his collar, presses a quick kiss to his lips and then leans forward even more to whisper in Sam’s ear. “Would you get on your knees for us? I swear Luci’s face will be worth it.”

Sam pulls back a little to send Gabriel a skeptic look. It’s not like he hasn’t been on his knees in front of Lucifer before, but that has been to a specific end and this sounds like something different.

From the direction of the bed, Lucifer chuckles. The bed frame creaks as he settles on it. “He’s doing that discussion thing again, is he?” Lucifer asks. “Where you have to explain everything in detail, before he decides, if he’s on board with it or not.”

“Does he do that often?” Gabriel asks.

“I don’t,” Sam protests. Besides, what’s wrong with it?

“Sure,” Lucifer teases.

That does it. Sam throws Lucifer a bitchface, then he locks eyes with Gabriel and drops to his knees.

It earns him a delighted sound from Gabriel, and when Sam looks at Lucifer again, the punk has gone completely still, just his eyes roaming over Sam’s body. His tongues darts out for a moment, licking his lips. “Fuck …”

Okay, yes, that was definitely worth it.

Gabriel’s right hand cups Sam’s cheek and draws Sam’s attention back to him. “But since Luci is a smartass, he should be teased a bit.” His thumb glides over Sam’s lower lip, before pressing in. Sam opens his mouth willingly, sucks on Gabriel’s thumb lightly, swirls his tongue around it. Gabriel grins down at him. “That’s the spirit.”

“Gabe,” Lucifer says, a warning in his voice.

“What?” Gabriel turns his head towards Lucifer, but his thumb stays in Sam’s mouth. “You don’t mind me going first, do you?”

For a moment, both brothers stare at each other, and Sam’s heart sinks. This isn’t going to work, is it? Sam’s about to pulls back and get up, when Lucifer leans back, puts his weight on his hands behind him and relaxes visibly. “I had that days ago already. Have fun, Gabe.”

Fucking turf war… They have to talk about this, but not now. Probably none of them could stand another interruption with more drama, and talking will work better anyway after they’ve blown off some steam. Slowly, Sam reaches up to open Gabriel’s pants. He barely takes his eyes off Lucifer, while he does it, but apparently reminding them all that he was the first to get a blowjob from Sam was all he needed. He watches now with quite a bit of interest.

“Eyes up here, Samshine.” Gabriel pulls his thumb out of Sam’s mouth and cards his fingers through Sam’s hair. Finally Sam looks away from Lucifer and into whiskey colored eyes.

Gabriel smiles. “That’s a view I could get very used to.”

“Didn’t think you’d be that desperate to look down at me for a change.”

From the direction of the bed, Lucifer sniggers. Good.

“Sure. Totally the only reason I like this.” Gabriel’s thumb glides over Sam’s lips again, and Sam takes that as a cue to pull down Gabriel’s pants. As soon as the last bit of fabric is gone, Gabriel’s erection stands to attention. He seems a bit thicker than Lucifer. Sam brushes Gabriel’s hand aways, licks along the length and makes Gabriel gasp. The next instant he swallows him down, before he can start thinking too much about how his jaw will probably hurt soon.

Gabriel doesn’t grab his hair, but he does cradle Sam’s head to guide him. Sam relaxes and lets him, just putting a hand on Gabriel’s thigh like he did with Lucifer days ago, his tongue sliding over the underside of Gabriel’s dick.

After a while, the bed creaks and then there are footsteps coming near. Lucifer kneels next to Sam, placing kisses on his shoulders, hands roaming over skin. Deft fingers open Sam’s fly button, and Lucifer shoves a hand inside Sam’s pants. Sam gives a muffled moan.

“You trust us, Sam, don’t you?”

Sam hums an affirmative that makes Gabriel throw his head back with a gasp.

“Then you don’t need this.” Lucifer’s free hand grabs the arm Sam has placed against Gabriel’s thigh just in case he forgets to hold back. Lucifer pulls it behind Sam’s back and holds it there.

At the same time, Gabriel’s rhythm gets slower. He lets go of Sam’s head and allows him to pop off. “Want to tell him to fuck off?”

It’s hard to tell, if Gabriel is just trying to be considerate or if he wants to piss Lucifer of, too. Most likely both. Sam likes the firm grip on his wrist though. “No.”

“We should try tying you up next time,” Lucifer purrs against his ear, and the thought makes Sam shudder.

Gabriel lifts an eyebrow, but at the same time there’s a small grin spreading on his lips. “So, you really do have a list of kinks, eh?”

Oh no, Sam definitely won’t blush about that. To distract himself and Gabriel, Sam leans forward again and licks the tip of Gabriel’s dick. “You really want to _talk_ about that now?” he asks, lips brushing against soft skin.

He loves the way that makes Gabriel groan. The shorter man looks down at him from under half closed lids. “Fair enough, Samshine, if anything happens that you don’t like, snap your fingers, okay?”

He barely waits for Sam to nod, before he shoves his dick past Sam’s lips again. This time he’s rougher, fucking into Sam’s mouth with a bit more force, still being careful not to choke him, though. Sam’s free hand comes up on instinct anyway. Lucifer grabs it, too, and tugs on his arms, until he can hold them behind Sam’s back with one hand. The other one creeps into Sam’s pants again, stroking Sam lazily, too slow to get off anytime soon, but enough to make him buck into Lucifer’s hand.

“I still want to pop your cherry,” Lucifer whispers into Sam’s ear. “I want to be the one who does it, not Gabe.” 

And there’s the turf war again. They really have to talk about this. For now, though, Sam can barely focus on anything beyond the salty taste of Gabriel on his tongue and Lucifer’s hand around his dick. Oh yeah, and his jaw does ache again, but he just doesn’t care.

When Gabriel’s thrusts get erratic, Sam instinctively struggles against Lucifer’s hold, trying to get back a bit of control. Lucifer releases him at once. “Next time snap your fingers, if you want me to release you, because I’m not going to react to anything else anymore.”

Only then does it fully sink in that Gabriel had given him a nonverbal safeword. Oh. Sam stops half way to placing his hand on Gabriel’s thigh again. He looks up and meets Gabriel’s eyes that are hooded, but still watching him attentively, while the shorter man rolls his hips, rocking into Sam’s mouth. He does trust them, right? They’ve proven over and over that they’re very considerate underneath their asshole facade. So if Lucifer wants a demonstration of said trust, why not give it to him? Sam lowers his hand again, crosses his wrists behind his back and nudges Lucifer with his shoulder.

“What … oh.” That one syllable sounds surprised and a bit in awe, but then the tone of his voice drops lower. “Now that’s better, Sammy.” Contrary to how hard he’s trying to make it sound like he expected nothing less, Lucifer’s fingers wrap around Sam’s wrists as if he’s cradling something precious. And Sam relaxes, giving up the notion that control is something he needs to have. It feels good to let go so completely, to just trust.

“Did he just …?” Gabriel pants.

“Yup.”

“Said he’s perfect.” One more thrust, then Gabriel gives a long moan and a salty taste explodes on Sam’s tongue. Sam gags a little from the unexpectedness of it, but manages to swallow and relax again, sucking and licking as good as he can through Gabriel’s orgasm.

Finally Gabriel relaxes and he pulls out, fingers carding through Sam’s hair again. “You alright?”

Sam smiles and sinks back against Lucifer’s chest. “Yeah.”

The punk lets go of Sam’s wrists and wraps his arms around him. Small kisses flutter over the skin of his neck above the collar, and then Gabriel squat down in front of him, kissing him deeply.

“Now,” Gabriel says after a while. “Wanna stay on the floor or should we move this to the bed?”

* * *

On the bed Sam ends up blowing Lucifer, while Gabriel gives him a rimjob. By the time Lucifer comes, Gabriel has worked two fingers inside Sam in addition to his tongue, and Sam is not particularly nervous about taking a dick up there any more. Instead, he pushes back against Gabriel, making sounds he’ll probably be ashamed of in the morning.

“So fucking beautiful.” Lucifer sits up, brushes a few strands of hair out of Sam’s eyes and pulls on the collar. “Come on, get upright, so I can relieve you from Gabe’s teasing.”

“Teasing? I’ve barely started.” Behind Sam, Gabriel straightens up. He curls his fingers inside Sam at exactly the right place to make him gasp. “Or I could just fuck you, Samshine.” He presses against Sam to let him feel that he’s hard again.

“Gabe,” Lucifer growls. “I swear, I’ll fight you over this!”

Oh great. It’s hard to be really annoyed with the state of arousal Sam is in, but Sam pushes himself in a kneeling position, too, resting his back against Gabriel. “If you fight over this, no one gets to fuck me and you’ll just have to let me top, if you want actual sex.”

Behind him, Gabriel chuckles. “Oh, I’d love to ride you.”

Sam’s dick twitches and agrees very much with the idea.

In front of him, Lucifer crawls closer. “I’m almost sure I wouldn’t mind letting you top, but that doesn’t change the fact that my dear brother is getting way too bold right now.”

Said little shit of a brother takes that as a cue to curl his fingers inside Sam again. Sam grits his teeth around a gasp and a moan. At the same time, Lucifer presses up against the front of him and wraps his fingers around Sam’s dick.

Fuck. Sam’s hands come up to cling to Lucifer’s biceps and he lets his head fall against Lucifer’s shoulder. “Don’t fight over me like this,” he forces out, trying to push back his arousal enough to form some coherent thoughts. Of course he could just tell them to stop what they’re doing, but as long as they concentrate on him, they at least don’t concentrate fully on fighting between each other. And it’s not like what they’re doing feels bad. “Please, you both want this to work, don’t you?”

“Of course we do. Don’t worry, Sammy, we’ll figure this out.” By which Lucifer most likely means that he’s positive he’ll win this argument. As if to make a point about the discussion being over now, Lucifer starts to jerk Sam off slowly. Gabriel takes up the same rhythm with his fingers pumping in and out of Sam, and Sam almost loses his train of thought. Great, now they’re working well together. This isn’t fair!

“Listen to me,” Sam gasps. “I don’t care, who fucks me first. But … but either way, it doesn’t make me any more yours. I … I don’t even mind, if you think of me as yours, but you can’t take that.” Both of them go still now, and even though part of Sam wants to curse and rock back on Gabriel’s fingers and forward into Lucifer’s fist, he goes on. “You can’t _take_ it, I have to _give_ it to you. And it comes with a price. You have to be mine in return.”

For a moment, there’s nothing. Sam lifts his head from Lucifer’s shoulder and sees them exchange glances over his.

“Truce?” Gabriel finally says. “I just wanted to rile you up anyway.”

“Truce,” Lucifer agrees.

They pick up their rhythm again, and Sam sighs and loses himself in it.

When Sam comes, he digs his teeth in Lucifer’s shoulder. The punks runs a soothing hand up and down Sam’s back until the last tremors have died down. Then he nudges Sam. “Did you just mark me?”

Gabriel leans in from behind. “Oh, please tell me you did. He needs a taste of his own insufferableness.”

Sam gives a shaky laugh. “I don’t think so.” He straightens up a bit, looking at the red teeth marks on Lucifer’s shoulder that are already fading again. Then he grins at Lucifer. “Do you want me to?”

Lucifer’s first reaction is a bitchface, but then he goes still, obviously thinking. Finally, he tilts his head to the side as if in invitation. Sam’s heart does a happy jump. So Lucifer had listened and he had understood what Sam had been trying to say. Sam places a kiss in the crook of Lucifer’s neck. “You sure?”

“Do it, before I change my mind.”

“As you wish.” And with that Sam sucks a mark into Lucifer’s skin.

As soon as he is done, Lucifer grabs a fistful of Sam’s hair, pulls his head back and bites down hard over Sam’s collarbone. Sam gasps and digs his fingers into something soft that turns out to be Gabriel’s thigh.

“That’s what I mean,” Gabriel says. “Always going ‘mine, mine, mine’, wanting to mark and to claim. I don’t even mind sloppy seconds, I just hate that Luci thinks he’s entitled to get the prima nocte thing.”

“I think prima nocte is not quite what you’re thinking about,” Sam rasps.

“Nerd,” Gabriel teases.

Finally, Lucifer lets go of Sam, and immediately Gabriel is there, licking over the fresh mark and soothing the pain. Those two are going to kill him eventually, he’s sure of that by now.

“You want to rant about me some more, Gabe,” Lucifer asks, “or do you want to make use of the fact that it’s your turn now?”

For a moment Gabriel goes completely still. Then he looks first at Lucifer, second at Sam. Technically, Lucifer has overstepped again, allowing Gabriel something that’s Sam’s decision, not his. But this is also the best peace offering Sam has seen so far today, so he lets it slide and just nods.

Gabriel grins and trails a line of kisses from the marked collarbone to the other. At least he doesn’t bite, he just takes his damn time to leave a hickey.

By the time there’s a mark on Gabriel’s skin, too, Sam and Gabriel are both hard again. But there’s the first hint of daylight outside, and they’re too tired to do much about it. They just curl into a huge sleepy pile of limbs, Sam in the middle.

While Sam drifts into sleep, he hears the soft voices of his two Shurley boys for a while longer.

“You know, we can safely say that it wasn’t Dick, who destroyed the manuscript,” Gabriel says.

“How so?” Lucifer asks.

“Because he asked Metatron, if he did it. Why should he do that, if he knew who actually did it?”

“Distraction?”

“He couldn’t have known that anyone would find the message.”

“Sammy is right though,” Lucifer points out. “Metatron wasn’t even near the gala.”

“I know.” Gabriel sighs. “Let’s see, if there are some interesting phone calls in the next few days. Or maybe Raphe learns something.”

That’s the point when Sam has enough. “Could you shut up and just sleep?”

Laughing, they snuggle against him, then there’s blessed silence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edit: I almost forgot to tell you! The next chapter will be from Dean's pov again.


	20. Bond Girl

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which there is a really fancy dinner and some other things you can to on tables and desks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is another Dean chapter! I almost forgot announcing that last Friday.
> 
> There's also a cliffhanger. The next few chapters will probably make y'all worry, but the cliffhanger in this one is the worst. It gets kind of resolved next chapter though.

Why even have a swimming pool, if no one is using it? The Shurleys always seem too busy to actually enjoy the things they have. A bit of asking around has turned out though, that staff is allowed to take a swim. And Dean is determined to enjoy the good things they have as long as they have them. He lies back in the water and just floats for a while until a shadow falls over him.

When he blinks against the sun, he sees Raphaela waving from the side of the pool. “Dean, do you have a minute?”

“Sure.” Dean swims towards the ladder, but furrows his brows, when Raphe pulls out her phone like she’s going to take a picture.

“What’s that about?” He grabs the handrail and pulls himself out of the water. He can hear the fake shutter click of the phone camera a few times.

Raphaela does her best to look innocent. It works pretty well. “I thought Mike would appreciate some pictures of you looking all Bond girl like.”

“Did Gabriel tell you to do that?” Also, Dean is pretty sure, him climbing out of the pool looks nothing like when a Bond girl does it. He walks over to where he left a towel on a sun chair.

“Maybe,” Raphaela admits.

“Tell him it’s rude taking pictures of people without asking first, especially if they’re mostly naked.”

Raphe pouts. “I’ll delete them again, if you don’t like them.”

Dean smiles, toweling himself off. “Okay, let’s have a look.”

In the end they settle on one that Raphe is allowed to send to her big brother. It may even look a bit Bond girl like. And Dean totally only allows it to make Raphaela happy, not because he feels all giddy thinking about how Michael gets to see him climbing out of a pool, water streaming down his torso.

Afterwards Raphaela tells him what she actually wanted. It’s probably a good thing that she didn’t just come out into the garden to take pictures of him mostly naked.

“I talked to Naomi,” she says. “Asked her the same questions I asked everybody else. Some things don’t add up, though.”

Dean had a feeling that might be the case, so he isn’t too surprised. “What things?”

Raphe pulls a notebook from her pocket she’s been making notes in since yesterday. “Most of the others said they saw her walking the hallways, making sure the guests don’t wander into the private parts of the mansion and making sure that no one was slacking off.”

Dean nods. He may have been replaying the kiss with Michael in his head most of the time yesterday, but he remembers that.

“Naomi says she’s been in the cloak room, hanging coats with Gadreel,” Raphaela goes on.

Interesting. “Maybe she did both? Wander the halls, then hang coats, then wander the halls again? No one remembers the exact time they saw her, right?”

Raphaela bites her lip. She flips through her notebook. “Malachi did. He was checking his watch all the time, because he was waiting to hear from his wife that she got home safe from her own work. And Hannah was responsible for making sure the buffet was restocked at the right time and she saw Naomi in the hallways, too, at a time Naomi says she was in the cloak room.”

“That doesn’t make any sense,” Dean say. “If Hannah and Malachy saw Naomi, Naomi has an alibi and can’t be responsible for the destruction of the manuscript. Why make something up then?”

Raphe shrugs. “I don’t know!”

“What did that Gadreel guy say?”

“I haven’t talked to him yet. He seems to be on some kind of errand all the time.”

Okay, this sounds really fishy now. “Want me to wait with you until he comes back and corner him?”

Raphaela grins. “Oh yes!”

* * *

It takes some time to corner Gadreel, but when they manage it, Dean is really glad Raphaela has come to him for help. The guy is big, and he doesn’t look happy to see her at all. If he is involved in something fishy, there’s no telling what he’d do to a teenage girl that happens to be asking too many questions.

Even a teenage girl that’s holding her head high and looking at Gadreel like she wants to keep him in place with the force of her gaze alone. “Where have you been between midnight and 1 a.m. at the night of the gala?”

“The police already asked about that,” Gadreel says stiffly.

Dean almost opens his mouth, before he remembers this is Raphe’s job. He’s only there in case things go south.

“And what did you tell them?” Raphe asks.

Gadreel seems to weigh his options for a moment, most likely realizing he can’t tell the daughter of his employer to fuck off, adopted or not. “That I was in the cloak room hanging coats with Naomi.”

Okay, at least their stories add up. Which means of course, if they’re lying, they’re in it together. Dean shifts his weight a little, keeping an even closer eye on Gadreel, while Raphaela asks some more questions. Just in case she uncovers something the guy prefers to keep hidden. Gadreel just keeps a stoic face, though, and gives answers that are as short as possible.

Finally, Raphaela sends him away and turns to Dean. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that the cops didn’t pick up on this.”

Now she really sounds like someone who’s lived on the street for a while. Dean shrugs. “Maybe they figured the people who saw Naomi got the time wrong. And she has an alibi either way.”

“Yes, she does.” Raphe points in the direction Gadreel has taken off. “He doesn’t.”

Oh. Yes. If Naomi and Gadreel are lying, there’s no telling where Gadreel has been while the manuscript had been destroyed. “No one else has seen him?” Dean asks.

Raphaela flips through her notes again and finally shakes her head. “No one. And he was supposed to do odd jobs, whatever needed to be done at the moment. So there’s no set place he was supposed to be.” She looks at Dean again, eyes big with the realization what they’ve just found out. “I have to tell Gabe. He’ll know what to do next.”

Gabriel isn’t the guy Dean would ask for advice, but he’s glad Raphaela doesn’t storm off, trying to solve the whole thing on her own. They should probably tell the cops, but just like Raphe none of his problems have ever been solved by telling the cops. And they can’t actually prove yet that Gadreel did it. “Why not tell Michael?” Dean asks. That sounds like the best option.

Raphaela pulls a face. “Mike’s supposed to be happy and take you on a date tonight.”

As much as Dean is looking forward to the date, that are definitely the wrong priorities. “Raphaela! This is a matter of security. You tell him or I tell him.”

“And what’s he supposed to do then?” Raphe complains. “We don’t have any real evidence and we won’t find any, if we let him know we’re on to him.”

“Michael has to know,” Dean insists.

“Fine,” Raphaela grumbles. “If you’re so set on ruining your date ...”

* * *

As it turns out, telling Michael doesn’t ruin the date. Michael just gives Dean the task to keep an eye on Gadreel for the rest of the day. Uriel gets called in and set on Naomi. Michael, too, thinks that they shouldn’t take any rash actions for now until they find solid proof.

Gadreel doesn’t do anything except work, but that doesn’t change the fact that Dean only breathes easily again when he’s finally done for the day and leaves for home. He isn’t sure when he’s started caring for the Shurleys so much.

A bit later nervousness hits Dean with force, when he remembers that Michael will pick him up for dinner in two hours.

He spends one hour pacing his room, before Raphe storms in and declares they need to pick an outfit for him. He grumbles something about only having one good suit anyway, but he’s very grateful for the distraction.

He’s still fucking nervous, when Michael knocks on the door, though, and the fact that the oldest Shurley brother looks gorgeous in his own suit doesn’t help at all.

“Are you ready?” Michael asks.

No he isn’t. Dean rubs his sweaty hands on his suit pants and takes a deep breath, angry at himself for acting as if this is his first date. He tries to find something intelligent to say, but his mind is completely blank. At least he manages to get out a playful “Yes, Sir,” and bites his lip over a smile, hiding his jitters. The answering spark in Michael's eyes makes his heart skip a beat, and tells him Michael doesn't mind his lack of eloquence.

* * *

Of course they take the limo to the restaurant. Dean isn’t sure, if the Shurley family even has a normal car. They sit there in nervous silence for a while, before Michael clears his throat. “I have to apologize for Raphaela,” he starts. “She’s spending too much time with Gabriel and Lu… Nick.”

For a moment Dean isn’t sure what Michael is talking about, then it dawns on him. “You mean the picture she took at the pool.”

The oldest Shurley brother nods.

“It’s no problem.” And because they need something to break the ice, Dean tries a cocky grin. “Did you like it?”

His heart does a little happy jump at the slight smile that appears on Michael’s face. “I did.”

He doesn’t go into more detail. That’s what you get for falling for the least chatty brother, Dean thinks, but those two words are enough to put a small swarm of butterflies into his belly.

After that, there is no nervous silence any more, instead they talk about Raphaela for most of the drive to the restaurant, and as soon as they are seated in a very fancy etablissement that looks like Michael would have had to pull a few strings to get a table at such short notice, the conversation turns to food. Which means that Dean spends some time staring at the menu, before he admits that he’s in over his head.

“Half of this is in French!” he complains.

Michael chuckles, which almost makes the embarrassment worth it. “Do you want me to order for both of us?”

“Yeah, I guess that’s a good idea,” Dean agrees.

“Any food allergies or anything else I should know about?”

“No, Sir.” After a moment Dean adds: “But no rabbit food, please.”

Michael nods with another smile.

The time passes pleasantly with really good food and wine and Michael explaining which kind of cutlery to use for which dish. Dean stops being embarrassed about his lack of knowledge pretty fast, because Michael treats it like it’s no big deal, just giving polite explanations. “It’s pointless knowledge,” he says after a while. “I think the only reason it was invented is to embarrass people who didn’t grow up with it.”

“I thought you didn’t either,” Dean says. “With you being adopted and all that.” Only after he said it, it dawns on him that this may have been a mood killer question. Trust him to put his foot in his mouth at some point.

But again, Michael just smiles. “My biological parents were pretty well off. I ran away, when they tried to send me to conversion therapy.”

“Oh fuck.” A passing waiter gives Dean a dirty look for the cursing, but he doesn’t care. “That’s bad.”

Michael shrugs. “It turned out good for me. And from all of my siblings I was the one spending the least time homeless. I stole money from my parents, before I ran, so I could afford living in hotels for a while.”

That makes Dean smile in return. “Dude, when you have a limited amount of money, you chose motels not hotels.”

He loves how Michael’s eyes light up, when he laughs. He actually laughs. The butterflies in Dean’s belly are a huge swarm by now. “Yes, I know that now. I didn’t know it back then. I burned through my funds pretty fast. When it became obvious that I couldn’t keep this lifestyle up for much longer and I wouldn’t be able to find a job soon I wrote to father … I mean Chuck.”

Michael leans back, looking like he feels completely comfortable with telling this story. Evidently he’s made his peace with it. “He has written a book about the dangers of conversion therapy, you know. I told him my story and asked for advice.” He looks down at his food, cards a hand through his hair. “I may have whined a bit.”

Now it’s Dean’s turn to laugh. “I’d say you had every right.”

Michael shrugs. “It took him a while to get back to me. He gets tons of fan mail every day, you know. Mine almost got lost, and I was already living in a homeless shelters by the time I got an answer. But he invited me to a charity event he was doing in one of the shelters in the area, and we talked and he took me home. Which was lucky, because not much longer and I probably would have started blowing guys in back alleys for money out of desperation.”

Even this is said like it’s no big deal, but Dean’s fists clench in aimless anger and protectiveness. Michael couldn’t have been much older than Raphaela back then, could he? Only when Michael leans over the table and puts a hand over Dean’s, does he relax again. He looks into Michael’s hazel green eyes and takes in his smile. “Sorry.”

“Never apologize for getting angry for my sake.”

Dean clears his throat. “Yes, Sir.”

Instantly, Michael’s eyes go darker. “I hope you know what you’re doing to me by calling me Sir.”

Dean has to admit, he likes the bossiness of nervous Michael, but relaxed and flirty Michael definitely has his high points, too. He leans forwards himself, opening his fist under Michael’s hand without pulling away, making his voice drop into a purr. “What am I doing to you, Sir?”

Michael’s nostrils flare. “Back in my office, when you came in to ask where your brother was, I wanted to bend you over my desk right then and there.”

That sends a pleasant shiver down Dean’s spine. He gives Michael his best cocky smile again. “Why didn’t you?”

Michael breathes an incredulous laugh. “You’re unbelieveable.”

* * *

They finish their meal and head back to the limo, now both eager to get somewhere more private. As soon as the motor starts, Dean throws all restraint to the wind and kisses Michael again. To his relief and delight Michael reciprocates with enthusiasm. Soon they’re tangled into each other, hair ruffled, clothes rumpled and Dean’s glad that there’s a tinted sheet of glass between them and the driver.

Still, when his hand starts to wander up Michael’s thigh, he catches it. “Not here.”

Dean makes a low protesting sound in the back of his throat without even thinking about it.

“Dean!” Michael chides. There’s no anger behind it, though.

Dean takes a deep breath and pulls his hand back, leans into Michael. “Yes, Sir. Sorry, Sir.”

That gets Michael’s lips on him again, kissing and nipping. “Are you really going to keep this up?”

“Was planning to, Sir,” Dean answers with a grin.

Now it’s Michael who makes a low sound in the back of his throat. “Were you planning on following my orders all night, too?”

Oh, yes, fuck yes! “To the letter, if you want me to.”

All of the sudden Michael’s hands are on both sides of Dean’s face, keeping him still while he looks deep into Dean’s eyes. Dean holds his breath, feels Michael’s on his skin. There’s a smile in those hazel green eyes.

“I do, but not for tonight,” Michael say. “I want to get to know you better first. Tell me what you want to do, when we get back to the mansion.”

Gently, Dean takes one of Michael’s hands in his own so he can lean forward to kiss him again. “Getting bend over your desk still sounds pretty good to me.”

Michael chuckles. “As you wish.”

* * *

It’s almost morning again, when Dean returns to his own room, pleasantly sore in all the right places and heart so full it feels like it’s going to burst. He can’t remember when he’s last been this happy.

He drops on his bed, still mostly clothed, and fumbles for his phone on the night stand. Maybe Sammy has written a text message, Dean always checks before going to bed. This is the longest they’ve ever been separated in their whole life.

There is a text, it’s not from Sam, though. It’s from an undisclosed number. Probably some kind of spam. He taps on it to delete it.

No spam. Instead it reads:

**Hello Dean. Your family history is pretty interesting. Especially you father’s. Do you think the police would be interested in his connection to the homicide in Lawrence?**

For a moment, Dean goes completely still, he can feel all the happiness of the day drain away. It’s replaced by cold numbness. This can’t be happening. Can’t they have something good for once?

When his mind starts to work again, he goes over what has happened in Lawrence. It was one of those instances where dad had thought he’d found a monster, and he and Sam hadn’t been good at dealing with it yet. As a result someone had died, and it had been the only time dad had been arrested as a suspect. They had to let him go, though. Not enough evidence. It had been the scariest few days in Dean’s life.

It’s impossible that more evidence has turned up. Is it? Dean isn’t sure. His memories are jumbled by shock in some places. Maybe something has turned up. Maybe someone saw something and has only started talking now.

With shaking hands he starts to write an answer:

**Who are you and what do you want?**

By the time he’s undressed for bed there’s a reply.

**I just need a little help from someone close to the Shurley family.**

Of course. For a moment Dean just stares at the message. He thinks of John, who’s just started therapy. Who has maybe even a chance at getting better now. Going to jail, that would break him, though.

But then Dean thinks of Michael and Raphaela. He swallows and starts typing slowly.

**If you plan on hurting any of them, you can fuck right off. And if I catch you trying, I’ll end you.**

**Relax. No one is going to get hurt. I just want some information for my own peace of mind. Nothing but a small favour, and your secret will stay safe with me.**

That doesn’t sound too bad, does it? Still, guilt tears at Dean. No matter what he decides in this, he’ll let someone down. Finally, he sighs and types again:

**What do you want to know?**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, and sorry I skipped the sex. There'll be Michean sex later, it'll just be really hard to get it right.


	21. Too Good to Be True

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which there's a disconcerting phone call

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like I promised, the cliffhanger from last chapter gets mostly resolved, but it's not all good again yet and there's angsting about the future in this chapter.

When Sam slowly drifts into sleep while the sun is already rising again outside, there’s a warm body snuggled into his arms, and one pressed against his back. Both Lucifer and Gabriel have one arm slung possessively around his waist, and at some point later he’ll probably wake up from not being able to move, but for now it’s more than comfy. He hasn’t been this happy in a long time. There are still issues, but they’ll work them out. He’s mostly positive about that at the moment.

He’s only just gone to sleep, when his cellphone rings.

Behind Sam, Lucifer groans. “Whose fucking phone is this?”

“Mine,” Sam mumbles, recognizing the ringtone. “It’s on the night stand on your side. Hand it over, will you?”

Lucifer does as he’s asked, though not without complaining some more. Then he nuzzles against the nape of Sam’s neck again.

It’s Dean. Sam takes the call, while Gabriel tightens his hold around him as if he wants to make sure that Sam doesn’t get up.

“Dean, what the fuck? It’s like six in the morning.”

“Yeah, time to rise and shine, sleeping beauty. I need your help with something.”

“Can this wait? I’ve only just gone to bed.” It probably can’t. Dean is sounding way too cheerful for six in the morning, which means he’s trying to hide how worried he is about something.

“Not my fault you’ve suddenly discovered partying hard, Sammy. It can’t.”

Sam groans. “Fine. What is it?”

“Frank taught you how to reveal an undisclosed number, didn’t he?”

“He taught me all kinds of stuff, but that was years ago, Dean. And I never used it.”

“Make him shut up,” Gabriel mumbles against Sam’s collarbone.

“So you can’t?” Dean asks.

“I can’t. I’m sure Gabriel can, though. If it’s important enough, I can ask him.”

Gabriel snuggles into Sam closer. “I’m not available for requests right now, if they don’t include cuddling or sex.”

Behind Sam Lucifer stirs in a way that makes it clear that he’s a lot more awake than his brother and probably slightly alarmed by now. He leans over to press his ear against the phone and listen in. Sam shrugs him away. “Lucifer, privacy, please.”

Lucifer grumbles, but lies back again.

On the other side of the line, Dean makes an unhappy sound. “Don’t tell me you’re sharing a bed with your Shurley. Aren’t you supposed to be working?”

“I’m taking my work very seriously, Dean, don’t worry.” Sam ignores the way Gabriel chuckles against his skin. “Now, care to tell me what’s going on?”

“I … I just got a creepy message. Probably overreacted. Go back to sleep, Sammy.”

That only makes Sam worry more. Dean does not overreact. Ever. Well, yes, he cries over romantic movies, if he thinks Sam doesn’t notice, and he gets super angry when he’s worried about the people he loves. But he doesn’t get spooked by things like creepy messages. 

“I can ask Gabe about the undisclosed number thing,” Sam insists. “It’s no big deal. He likes showing off his hacker skills.”

“Hey ...” Gabriel mumbles in weak protest.

“Do I even want to know how you found out about that, Sammy?” Dean asks.

Maybe it’s time for some truth, maybe that’ll make Dean come forth himself. So Sam clears his throat. “He … uhm … he found out about my fake licence, but instead of ratting me out he helped me fake it better.” That’s almost the truth, he just left some details out.

It leads to stunned silence from Dean’s side for a moment. “He didn’t ask for anything in return?”

Okay, maybe telling Dean about it now hadn’t been such a good idea. Sam yawns and fights to keep his eyes open. “No. And explicitly not for what you’re thinking right now. He’s a good guy, Dean. I … I like him. We’re getting along pretty well by now.”

“Pretty well …” Lucifer whispers, amusement in his voice.

Gabriel’s thumb strokes over the naked skin on Sam’s hip, and Sam clears his throat. But this is really not something he’s going to tell Dean now. He wants to get some sleep at some point.

“Huh”, Dean says. “Those Shurleys really are too good to be true, aren’t they?”

“I guess so. Dean, talk to me. What’s the matter?”

Sam feels Lucifer sit up behind him, blue eyes looking down at him with concern now. And Gabriel starts stirring more, too. Sam moves to get up so they can sleep. After all, this looks like it’s going to be a longer conversation. Both Lucifer and Gabriel pull him back down, though. He glares at them, but sinks back into the pillows.

“I’ve been thinking, Sammy. I mean, I’m happy here, don’t get me wrong, but Raphe and Mike and ... I don’t know … maybe even Gabriel, they deserve someone who can really do this job right, you know?”

“But we can, Dean, we’re good at it, right?” Sam protests. He has a sinking feeling in his stomach now. And he really should get up, go somewhere where he’s alone, because this is serious and it’s between him and Dean. So he sits up again and tries to climb out of the bed. Lucifer catches his wrist, though.

“Don’t you dare shut us out, if there’s trouble,” he says in a low voice. And Sam nods at him, even though he doesn’t know, if he means it. This is a family thing. It has always been just him and Dean against the world. Not even dad had been much of a help most of the time.

“Yeah,” Dean goes on in the meantime, “but with our past … There is so much dirt people can dig up, use against us. I don’t know, if we really have any business protecting people. We’re a liability. Maybe we should just get ourselves fired for their sake.”

Shit. For a moment, Sam’s throat feels constricted and he doesn’t get any words out. He should get away from Gabriel and Lucifer now, into the bathroom, finish this conversation in private. But two sets of eyes hold him in place, icy blue and whiskey golden. They look at him with worry, but there’s also something else. Like they expect him to slip away and shut them out again, no matter how trustworthy they’ve proven to be. Like they expect to be hurt.

And that’s what makes Sam stay. “Dean,” he says. And then as a deliberate way to let both of his listeners know about what’s up: “Is someone blackmailing you?”

Gabriel’s eyes fly wide open. He scoots to the edge of the bed and comes back with his laptop few second later, and something about that warms Sam from the inside out. Gabriel will probably hack Dick Roman’s computer again, see if he found something he can blackmail Dean with. Sam didn’t even ask for help, he gets it anyway.

“Kinda,” Sam’s brother admits reluctantly. “I’m trying to find a way out of it right now, but truth is, this can happen again, and I don’t ever want to have to chose between dad or maybe even you and people I like too damn much already.”

They really aren’t allowed to have anything good, do they? Sam pinches the bridge of his nose. He hates it, but Dean has a point. Gabriel can’t make all of their past disappear, can he? Someone just has to dig up one of the crimes they committed to get them into trouble. It shouldn’t be that easy to blackmail a body guard.

But in that moment arms sneak around Sam from behind, and Lucifer presses kisses to his shoulders. Cool fingers trace the marks on his collarbone and the collar still around his neck. Lucifer doesn’t say anything, but he doesn’t have to. The message is clear. 

Finally Lucifer leans closer, his lips brushing Sam’s ear. “We have your back, Sammy.”

And Sam trusts them, doesn’t he? He takes a deep breath. “Dean, mind if I put you on speaker? I’ll explain everything later, but I’m here with Lucifer and Gabriel, and they already know most of our shit and I trust them explicitly. Let’s see, if we can find a solution for this together, okay?”

Maybe the only solution they can find is that Sam and Dean really do have to quit their job, but Lucifer and Gabriel at least deserve to know about it.

* * *

It takes more time for Dean to get over the deeply ingrained idea that strangers have no business in family matters than it takes him to tell what happened after he finally gives in – mostly because Sam has already spilled the beans half way.

“He wanted to know, if Raphe’s interrogation of all the staff has turned something up”, Dean finishes finally.

“And you told him about Gadreel?” Gabriel asks. The laptop is on his lap, while he’s sitting cross legged on the bed.

“Fuck you,” Dean says. “If I had decided to turn traitor, we wouldn’t have this conversation, don’t you think? I told him she got nothing so far, but that I’ll let him know as soon as she does. I guess that lie will hold up for a few days.”

Gabriel and Lucifer share a pleased look. Lucifer and Sam are sitting on the bed, too, the cell phone lying on the mattress between them.

“Looks like loyalty is a family trait with you Winchesters,” Lucifer says, probably referring to the fact that Sam had refused to tell on Gabriel.

“Well, some things dad actually did right,” Dean replies grumpily.

“I wish not keeping secrets until you absolutely have to spill them would be a family trait, too,” Gabriel says while typing on his laptop. “I want a list, Sammy. All the illegal things you’ve ever done that could come back to bite you in the ass. All of them, so we don’t get any surprises any more. Any more people your dad killed for example?”

There’s silence for a moment. Sam avoids Gabriel’s eyes that have that look again that leaves no room for objections. He isn’t even sure, if he can list every single time he’s ever broken the law. He had still been a child for half of them. How could he ever have thought this is going to work out?

“We’re not sure about another one,” Dean admits after a moment. “But just in case you haven’t realized it yet, it’ll be a fucking long list. So why make the effort at all? You shouldn’t want to keep us around.”

Gabriel rolls his eyes. “Actually, I want to keep your brother around above all, not you. But our little sister has been gushing about you for days now, Dean-o, and I think Mikey also got a tiny bit attached. So quit the whining while I sort through your mess.”

Someone is obviously not in a good mood. Sam exchanges a look with Lucifer. The punk grins and leans closer. “He gets like that when he hasn’t had enough sleep.”

“There.” Gabriel points at the screen of his laptop. “I can’t find the conversation with Dean on Dick’s phone, but if he was smart he has been using a separate phone for that anyway. And Dick _has_ been digging up stuff about the Lawrence incident.”

“Dick?” Dean asks.

“Someone we’ve been onto anyway because of the manuscript,” Sam explains.

Gabriel squints and leans closer to the screen. “Samwise, come take a look at this. To me it looks like he still got nothing on you.”

“So he isn’t the one sending the blackmail?” Dean says.

Sam crawls over to Gabriel to take a look himself. There are old police reports and newspaper articles on the screen. He skims over them, looking at the dates mostly. Nothing new, everything the same old stuff that hadn’t been enough to get John Winchester behind bars the first time. There are some things marked, though. Things that may not have been enough for a trial, but enough to make an educated guess that John wasn’t innocent.

“I think he’s bluffing,” Sam says.

“Son of a bitch!” Dean’s voice comes from the phone.

“I could be wrong,” Sam admits. “But he marked all the right places. You know, the things that led to dad being arrested.” He knows all those details pretty well. He has memorized them so they’ll never make the same mistakes again. “And it looks like he’s been pretty thorough. I don’t know, if anyone else could’ve turned up more.”

“So I can tell him to go fuck himself without anything happening,” Dean says.

“Looks like it,” Gabriel says.

“No,” Lucifer says at the exact same time. When all heads turn towards him, he shrugs. “I don’t know about you, but I want to see what Dick does with the information.”

“Wait,” Dean asks, “you want me to tell him?”

“Yes,” Lucifer says. “I mean, Gadreel has no motive to destroy the manuscript except either bribe or blackmail. So someone has to be behind it and it’s either Dick or Dick is also trying to find out who it was for some reason. Which means he can lead us to them.”

Gabriel scratches his chin in thought. “What if whatever he’s going to do gets Raphe or Mike in danger?”

“Yeah,” Dean says. “I have to agree with Gabe on that. Not happening on my watch.”

Lucifer sighs. “Get them to a safe place first. You can use my apartment, if you have to. They’ll be safe there. If Mike touches any of my stuff, I’ll kill him personally, though.”

“That means we’d have to tell Michael,” Sam points out, ignoring the threat. And that means they may be going to lose their job after all. At least it would be a way to get out of the blackmail thing without anyone getting hurt. No need to blackmail them, if they aren’t close to the Shurleys any more. This isn’t about them after all.

As if he read Sam’s thought, Gabriel pulls him down to his level by the collar. “Luci and me won’t let you go, no matter if you stay my bodyguard or not,” he whispers.

And that’s meant well, but what is he supposed to do then? Live off their money? Well, technically it’s all Chuck’s money and he’s living on it anyway, but working for it makes him feel more independent. Living off what they give him will make him feel like their pet. And what about Dean?

“We should tell Michael anyway,” Dean says, voice flat. “I’ll … I’ll tell him everything.”

For a moment no one says anything. Sam feels cold all over. He isn’t sure exactly what is going on between Dean and Michael, but by the way Dean is acting it’s more than just a fling. If they have to go back on the road again, Dean will be wrecked in even more ways than Sam had expected so far. And something deep inside Sam hurts at the thought of leaving Gabriel and Lucifer behind. Maybe just staying with them wouldn’t even be that bad, but he can’t leave Dean alone.

Finally Lucifer clears his throat. “We can come up with a story for him. He doesn’t have to know most of it.”

“Thanks for the offer, Nick, but –”

Lucifer pulls a face. “Lucifer,” he corrects Dean.

“Seriously?” Dean asks. “You prefer Satan’s name over yours?”

“Have your name yelled at you for years and see how much you like it then,” Lucifer shoots back. “I’m named after the angel of free will, now, suck it up.”

When Dean speaks next, Sam can almost hear the shrug in his voice. “Well, okay. In that case: tempting offer, Satan, but if the rest of you know, I’m not gonna keep lying to Mike of all people.”

“I take it dinner went well, then,” Lucifer says.

“I have to tell Raphe to stop gossiping so much,” Dean grumbles without any real anger in his voice.

Gabriel laughs, but gets serious again fast. “Listen, Dean-o, I’m sure Mike will appreciate the honesty, but there’s a chance he’ll decide that you can’t keep working as a body guard with how easy it is to find blackmail material about you.”

“I figured as much,” Dean says. “And in that case he’s probably right and we’re not gonna stand in the way of finding someone more suitable for the job.”

* * *

They don’t talk much longer, because they’re all too tired. When Sam hangs up, the happiness from before has been replaced with cold numbness. Still, he lets Lucifer and Gabriel pull him back between them, snuggling close.

“You’re ours,” Lucifer whispers. “We’re not going to give you up.”

It’s still not as reassuring as it is probably meant to be, but at least it’s good to know that it’s not him and Dean alone against the world this time.

Sam turns his head to kiss Lucifer, savoring it, because he doesn’t know how many more of those he’ll get. As soon as their lips separate, Gabriel is there, claiming his mouth. “We gonna keep you,” he says. “Mike can’t change that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do you all know how hard it is to make Sam and Dean talk about a problem for once? Originally I planned on making them winchester (It's totally a verb. It's when you keep important things secret that will come back to bite you in the ass eventually). I only changed my mind thanks to my wonderful beta reader coplins, who made a few good points.


	22. A Motive

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Sam may or may not have a brother kink and there are even more ridiculous nicknames.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's actual plot in this chapter! Don't let yourself be fooled by the beginning.

When Sam wakes up, there’s someone breathing against his neck, and judging by the piercing he can feel against his skin it’s Lucifer. For a moment Sam allows himself to just enjoy the moment, to feel the press of skin against skin and the warmth of the body next to him.

When Sam finally opens his eyes, he sees Gabriel lying on his side half an arm length away, watching them with a smile on his lips.

“Enjoying the view?” Sam asks, because he can play this game, too.

Gabriel grins. “Immensely. For two guys as ginormous as you are, you look surprisingly cute in your sleep.”

Sam throws him a bitchface. Only after a minute does he realize that the statement includes Lucifer, too. “You think Lucifer would like being called cute?”

Gabriel’s grin gets wider. “He’d absolutely hate it.”

Sam snorts and Lucifer moves against him a bit, arm slung around his waist as if he thinks Sam might vanish, if he doesn’t keep a hold on him.

And Gabriel scoots a bit closer until their noses almost touch. Sam tilts his head in invitation for a kiss and Gabriel takes it, pulls back after a short moment though. “How do you feel about waking Luci with a blowjob?”

For a moment, Sam chokes on nothing and coughs. He probably should’ve gotten used to Gabriel’s directness by now, but this is a new level. He also still doesn’t like it, when they use him to do each other favors. “Why don’t you do it?”

For a split second Gabriel’s eyes flicker to Lucifer and there’s something unexpected in the whiskey colored depth, insecurity and want, but then a grin slips in place over it and he waggles his eyebrows. “Sammykins, do you want to tell me about your brother kink?”

That earns him another bitchface. “You’re not actually brothers.” Sam holds Gabriel’s gaze. “But, yes, watching you kiss was pretty hot.”

There is attraction between Gabriel and Lucifer, Sam’s completely sure of it by now. Maybe that’s why they push him around between each other, make him do what they don’t dare do themselves. In that case, Sam is more than happy to help out and provide an excuse for them to actually start acting on what they want. “I dare you to wake him with a kiss.”

Gabriel’s eyes light up at the challenge. Of course he’d take to it. “Get out of the way.”

Grinning, Sam carefully extracts himself from Lucifer’s embrace. Lucifer makes protesting sounds in his sleep and rolls on his back, but he doesn’t wake up. Gabriel climbs over Sam while Sam pushes himself up to sit against the headboard. From there he watches as Gabriel straddles his adopted brother and dives in for a kiss.

There’s content little sound in the back of Lucifer’s throat, and his hands come up to Gabriel’s hips, before he even opens his eyes. When he does though, he goes completely still.

Gabriel breaks the kiss for a moment. “Sammy dared me to do it.”

That’s all it takes. Sam can see Lucifer relax, chase Gabriel’s lips now. And it definitely is the hottest thing Sam has ever seen. He holds his breath, not daring to move for fear of breaking the spell. After a moment, Lucifer flips them so that he’s on top, pinning Gabriel’s wrists to the mattress. The shorter man struggles, breaking the kiss to bite along Lucifer’s jaw in a way that looks almost angry. “Don’t you dare pin me.”

And that really shouldn’t be so hot, but Sam is completely hard in his boxer shorts by now.

Lucifer grins. “Make me stop.”

The bitchface Gabriel throws him at that is epic. He huffs a breath through his nose, then his hips buck up, grinding against Lucifer.

Obviously surprised Lucifer gasps. Gabriel uses that moment to flip them again. Sam isn’t even sure, if this is still a make-out session or a brotherly scuffle by now. They seem to be switching between both seamlessly with Gabriel now leaning down for another kiss. Lucifer’s fingers dig into Gabriel’s hips, while he kisses back with more teeth than he’s ever used with Sam.

Sam catches his own hand wandering towards his erection, but instead he fists his finger in the fabric of his shorts. He doesn’t want them to stop, so he better doesn’t remind them that he’s even here.

As if the thought was his cue, Lucifer turns his head towards Sam, blue eyes almost glowing. “Feeling left out yet?”

Sam gives the punk a cocky smile. “Oh no, please, do carry on. Don’t mind me.”

That makes both of his lovers chuckle. “He definitely does have a brother kink,” Gabriel says.

“You’re not actually brothers!” Sam protests again.

“Come on,” Lucifer teases, grinding up against Gabriel now. “You can tell us. We’re not going to judge you.”

Gabriel gasps in surprise, but he goes with it, moving his hips while his gaze stays on Sam. While it had looked like they’d almost forgotten he was there before, this is definitely for show only and probably not something they’d be comfortable with, if it wasn’t for their audience. Maybe they’ll get there eventually, though. If they have the time. Sam swallows and forces the thought away that all of this could end soon. Instead he says: “I just like to watch my two hot boyfriends make out. Is that a crime?”

Gabriel and Lucifer share a look. “I’d say our influence is doing him good, don’t you think, Luci?”, Gabriel says.

Lucifer grins. “Totally.”

Of course that’s the moment Gabriel’s cellphone rings.

* * *

It’s Raphaela. Apparently she’s worried about Dean, but he had refused to tell her what is going on. For a moment Gabriel covers the speaker with his thumb. “Samwise, I swear, if your brother keeps that up, calling at ungodly hours and indirectly cockblocking me, I’m gonna make sure the name on his ID gets changed to Diana.”

Sam laughs. “I want to see you pull that off.”

The shorter man lifts an eyebrow. “Don’t tempt me.” Then he goes back to talking to Raphaela.

Lucifer catches Sam’s eyes. “Shower?”

“What happened to no touching while the other isn’t around?”

Lucifer pulls a face. “Gabe can have a pass on that rule, too. So what do you say?”

Sam feels like he could just turn around and sleep a few more hours, but they have to get back on the road today. Maybe he can sleep in the bus later. So he nods.

Before they head off to the bathroom, he takes the collar off, though, and moves to give it back to Lucifer.

The punk shakes his head. “It’s yours now.”

“I can’t walk around in flannel shirts and a spiked collar!” It’s a stupid excuse. What he actually wants to say is that he feels like everybody will somehow know that it is more than just a fashion statement and he isn’t sure, if he’s ready for that. Especially while it’s so uncertain what the future will bring.

Lucifer huffs and rummages in his bag a little, before he throws a t-shirt at Sam. “There.”

Sam catches it on instinct. “Seriously?”

“Sam,” Lucifer says. “What do I have to do to make you keep wearing that thing?”

Oh. So this is really important to Lucifer. Sam sighs. He turns the collar in his hands a few more times, then places it together with the t-shirt on his own duffle bag so he can put it on later. “Asking is always a good start.”

* * *

Sam and Lucifer manage to fit into the shower together, and not long after Sam finds himself pressed against cold tiles, while Lucifer jerks them both off. Sam kisses the hickey he left yesterday, suddenly understanding a little better why marking him up is so important to both of his Shurleys. It’s the stupid hope that you can keep the world from taking something away from you, if you just write your name on it over and over.

That thought is probably what makes him say: “Fuck me.”

Lucifer stills, lifting an eyebrow. “Now?”

Sam nods.

“You want to lose your virginity in a shower quickie?”

“Didn’t you complain yesterday that I need every idea explained in detail, before I go with it?” Sam shoots back. “I think you were being a hypocrite.”

“Sam …” Lucifer kisses down Sam’s neck. “Apart from the fact that Gabe would actually try to kill me, if we do this without him, we don’t need to hurry it. We have all the time in the world.”

No, but what if they don’t?

“We’re keeping you. We won’t let you go again. Stop worrying, Sammy.”

He tries. He can’t.

* * *

As it turns out, Sam can’t sleep in the bus either. The beds are too small. Technically, they’re too small for Lucifer, too, but that doesn’t seem to bother the punk. He’s snoring in the upper bunk with his feet hanging over the edge.

After a while, Sam gives up and walks over to the table, where Gabriel is sitting in front of his laptop. When he sees Sam, his eyes light up and he looks him up and down again as if he still can’t believe it that Sam actually agreed to wear the collar in public, on top of one of Lucifer’s band shirts.

When Sam sits next to Gabriel, Balthazar looks up on the other side of the table. “Mind if I take that bed?”

“Go ahead.” Apparently they’re not the only ones who haven’t gotten much sleep. Castiel is stretched out on the bench, his head in Meg’s lap, and Meg looks like she’s dozing, too. Dean would be disappointed, if he knew what living a rock star life actually looks like.

Apropos Dean. Gabriel’s laptop is open in front of him, but he seems to be too busy with texting to actually work on it. “Raphe says, Dean has actually worked up the courage to go and talk with Mike now,” he says.

Sam nods, worry coiling tight inside him. To distract himself he looks at the screen of the laptop. There is a whole bunch of tabs open. “What are you doing there?”

Gabriel doesn’t even look up from his phone. “Trying to dig something up about Gadreel. Some connection with Dick maybe. I don’t know. He needs a reason for burning the manuscript, doesn’t he?”

Sam nods. “Mind if I take over?” He really needs something to do.

That gets him a curious look from Gabriel. “Go ahead.”

It takes Sam some time to sort through what Gabriel had started. What he’s seeing in front of him are bits and pieces of Gadreel’s past. School records, yearbook pictures, stuff like that. In one of the tabs there’s something open that looks suspiciously like Gadreel’s online banking account. Sam scrolls through it, but can’t find anything suspicious, no sudden wealth. So there was no bribery involved.

“Apparently he’s the son of a close friend of Naomi,” Gabriel says. “Didn’t know that before, but she did recommend him for the job.”

“So she’s covering for him to protect him?” Sam asks.

“Looks like it. Must be a really good friend, his mother.”

That doesn’t help them find the guy behind all of this, though. Sam clicks through the other tabs. “And he’s writing bad poetry?” It’s an e-mail attachment. Apparently Gadreel hat tried to get his poetry published. The answer of the publisher is there, too. It’s a impersonal text telling Gadreel that his writing doesn’t fit their portfolio. 

“Yup.” The shorter man still doesn’t look up from his phone, but he leans against Sam. “He actually showed dad one of those once. Asked him to help him publish a bunch of them. Dad explained to him very politely that poetry barely sells any more. He’s around a hundred years too late for that.”

Poor guy, born too late for his dreams to come true.

“I wanted to hack his facebook page next,” Gabriel goes on. Sam throws Meg a look, who sits with closed eyes opposite to them, but Gabriel doesn’t seem to mind that she might be listening. “It’s friends locked. Seriously, who actually gives a shit about online privacy these days?”

Sam snorts. “Gadreel apparently.”

“Apparently. Think you can finish the job?” Now Gabriel’s eyes are on Sam again, watching him with interest.

Sam shrugs. “Yeah, sure. Shouldn’t be that hard.”

“Well then, impress me, honeybunch.”

Sam lifts an eyebrow at Gabriel. “Honeybunch?”

Gabriel answers his incredulous look with a grin. “Yes, sweetcheeks. You’ve gotten used to the normal nicknames. I think I have to up my game.”

He earns a bitchface for that explanation, but telling him to stop it will probably just make it more fun for him. So Sam sighs. “Whatever you say, snugglepumpkin.”

Gabriel sniggers. On the other side of the table, Meg gives a sleepy groan. “I think I just puked in my mouth a little.”

* * *

Hacking Gadreel’s facebook page is child’s play after Sam finds a program on Gabriel’s laptop that cracks the password in seconds. Then he sets to sifting through the recent posts. There aren’t many, apparently Gadreel isn’t the most chatty dude. There is one picture though that makes Sam pause. It wasn’t posted by Gadreel, but a certain Becky Rosen has tagged him in it. It shows a group of people, standing together smiling at the camera.

“Gadreel went to a writing workshop by Metatron …”

That makes Gabriel look up. “What?”

Sam turns the laptop so he can see and points at a small guy with messy salt and pepper hair. “That’s Marv Metatron, isn’t he? He got tagged accordingly.”

“Yes, that’s him.” Gabriel squints at the picture. “Wait, was that workshop really called ‘How to be successful following your dreams’?”

“Looks like it.”

“Could’ve just named it ‘How I get even richer profiting of your dreams’.” Gabriel scoffs. “As if he even needs the money. How much does sitting to his feet and listening to him self-congratulate cost?”

“Let me check.” Sam googles the course. “Way too much money.”

“Yeah, thought so. Fucking prick.”

It’s cute somehow how offended Gabriel gets about this. “I tell you,” the shorter man goes on, “no matter what else we find, it’s no longer a matter of ‘should we do something to Marv’ , it’s a matter of ‘what’.”

“Be glad,” comes Castiel’s gruffy voice from the direction of Meg’s lap, “that we know you’re talking about pranks.”

“Still wouldn’t want to get on his bad side,” Meg mumbles. “Remember the thing with the alligator?”

Gabriel grins. “That was one of my better ones.”

Sam is pretty sure he doesn’t want to know. He still stares at the picture. “What do you think, how badly does Gadreel want to publish something?” And how mad is he at Chuck for telling him that his poetry doesn’t stand a chance, for that matter.

“You mean …” Gabriel says slowly. “You mean there _was_ bribery involved.”

Sam nods. “Just not the money kind.”

“Good thinking.” Gabriel hooks a finger under Sam’s collar to pull him down for a kiss. Good thing Michael will know about everything he and Dean have done soon anyway and not staying professional will be the least of his problems. So it probably doesn’t make a difference that Meg is watching.

And it gives Gabriel the opportunity to lower his voice for what he’s going to say next. “I think Luci is right and Dean should tell his blackmail contact about all of this. We need evidence, let’s see if we can make them deliver it to us free of charge.”

Meg is right, Sam wouldn’t want to get on Gabriel’s bad side either. Behind all the jokes and flirting is a very sharp and sometimes wicked mind.

“Any news from Dean?” Sam asks.

Gabriel lets the collar go and shakes his head. “Still talking as it seems. Raphe says, if they take much longer, she’ll go crash the party. Looks like she wants to keep him almost as badly as we want to keep you.”

Sam isn’t sure, if it’ll make much of a difference, but it probably can’t hurt to have an angry teenage girl on their side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter is a Dean chapter again, because I know I can't leave you hanging much longer regarding that.


	23. Confession

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which there is no way of denying anymore that Raphaela is the real hero of this story.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here is the Dean/Michael chapter I promised!

Until now Dean hadn’t know how unnerving it can be, if someone just sits there and listens attentively. But he’s been talking almost an hour straight, and his nerves are by their last shred by now. It’s not that Michael doesn’t say anything. He has started asking questions pretty soon. But he doesn’t say what he’s thinking. He just sticks to the facts, tries to get every detail of what Dean is telling him right and keeps his face so impassive it could’ve been cut from stone. Dean feels sick. How happy he’d been yesterday seems so far away now.

Finally Dean snaps. He stops his pacing in front of Michael’s desk and looks him straight in the eyes. “Mike, please, get mad at me. Something. I can’t deal with this any more!”

“I’m not mad at you, Dean.” Those hazel green eyes get a bit warmer and hold compassion now and so much patience.

“Then what now?” Dean asks. “You know everything by now, all of the shitty life decisions that brought me here. I didn’t think it through, I admit that. I thought the worst that could happen is that I’d have to catch a bullet for Raphe or for you. I didn’t think someone could use my past to do harm to you.”

Michael sighs and nods, the first human reaction he’s shown so far. It’s almost a relief. “I hate to agree with Lucifer, but telling that person what we know might be a good move to draw them out.”

That’s not what Dean meant, even though it’s a good thing to have a plan. He opens his mouth to rephrase his question, but Michael lifts his hand to stop him. “And I’m still thinking about what to do,” he says. “I can’t trust my own judgement in this. I appreciate the honesty, but I probably should let you go for Raphaela’s safety.”

Yes, that’s what Dean thought. He nods, feeling numb all over. So that’s it. Their chance at a good life ruined by their past. At least his chance. Maybe Sam can stay with his boyfriend. After all Lucifer didn’t seem to care about their past at all.

“I will give you a stellar review, help you find another job, if you want to.” All stiff and businesslike now, just like he was at the beginning.

Dean nods again. That’s all he manages. His heart feels like it’s slowly breaking into pieces. He doesn’t even dare ask about them, because of course there can’t be no them. He’s doing them no good no matter in which way he’s close to them. “I should go then. I guess you’ll want to call Uriel to get you to a safe place, while I do my traitor thing.” He turns towards the door.

“Dean!”

Dean looks back over his shoulder.

“You’re not a traitor.”

“I let you down.” With that he opens the door.

Raphaela stands right behind it, looking like her ear had been pressed against the wood just seconds earlier. Dean feels a surge of affection towards her and her nosiness. She takes one look at Dean’s face and puts her hands at her hips. “No!”

“Raphe …” he says.

“No!” She doesn’t step aside to let him through. Instead she strides in and leaves Dean only the choice to have her bump into him or take a step back. He takes a step back, and she fixes her gaze at her brother. “If you fire him, I swear I’ll use every trick I learned from Gabe to shake my next body guard at every opportunity!”

“Raphe,” Dean says again, this time with more force behind it. He appreciates the gesture, but it’s misguided. “This is for your own safety. I can’t be trusted, if someone threatens my family.”

“Oh, is that so?” she asks. “Then what’s this?” She holds something up that Dean recognizes as his cellphone.

“Where did you get that?” he asks.

“From your room,” she explains. “And Gabe showed me how to get past the lockscreen.”

Gabriel is apparently a fucking great influence on everybody around him.

“Raphaela!” Michael chides her. “What have we agreed on about the things Gabriel teaches you?”

Raphe rolls her eyes. “I don’t use them except in an emergency. As far as I’m concerned, this is an emergency.”

There’s a stern expression on Michael’s face now. “I would appreciate, if you don’t start to disrespect other people’s privacy as blatantly as Lucifer and Gabriel do sometimes. You know they both acknowledge it’s bad and they do their best to refrain from it. Even Lucifer.”

Wait, ‘even Lucifer’? Sam’s boyfriend is worse than Gabriel? Granted, they both have also helped Dean out a lot last night and acted pretty decent, but Dean puts this on the list of things he has to talk to Sam about. Right next to the question why not only Lucifer had been at hand in the middle of the night, but also Gabriel, now that he thinks about it.

Raphaela’s shoulders drop. “I’m sorry. I was just looking for something to help Dean, and …” She turns to Dean. “Can I show Mike your conversation with the ass who blackmailed you?”

Dean shrugs. Why not? “Go ahead.”

Raphaela hands the cellphone to Michael.

For a moment there is silence in the office, while the oldest Shurley reads what’s on the screen. Dean doesn’t see what kind of difference this will make. But after a moment Michael lifts an eyebrow.

“If you plan on hurting any of them, you can fuck right off?” Michael reads. He makes it sound like a formal declaration of war, not like something Dean has typed at three in the morning.

Dean shrugs. “You didn’t think I’d actually do something that’d harm Raphe, did you?” Now that he thinks of it, maybe Michael did? Dean had been focusing on getting everything out, not making himself look good.

“Why haven’t you told me about this?” Michael waves the phone around a little.

“I told you I didn’t give him what he wanted and tried buying time instead.”

“Dean, this is not buying time, this is drawing a line, no matter the consequences. You would’ve risked your father going to jail to keep harm from Raphaela and her family.”

Again, Dean shrugs. “I’m still her fucking body guard for now. I at least try to not fail completely at the job.”

For some reason that makes Michael smile. He turns to his little sister. “Would you mind giving us some more time to talk?”

Raphaela eyes him suspiciously. “You’re not going to fire him?”

“I’m not going to fire him,” Michael promises.

Dean can barely believe what he’s hearing. Did one little line of text just save him and Sam’s future? He looks from Raphaela to Michael and back. Raphe grins and gives him the thumb up. She practically bounces, when she hurries out the room. She pulls the the door shut behind her, but before it closes completely, she pokes her head in again. “By the way, Mike, you’re doing your stick up the ass thing again and it makes you look like a dick.”

Then she’s gone.

Michael looks at Dean, now a new kind of guilty expression on his face. “She’s right, isn’t she?”

Dean gives a shaky laugh, not sure yet, if everything is really going to be alright. “Maybe a little bit, but it’s alright, I get it.”

“I’m sorry, Dean.” Michael clears his throat. “Can you promise me, whatever happens, you will come to me first thing, when there is trouble, so we can find a solution together? You do know I happen to have a lot of money? One can buy very good lawyers with it for example.”

That is definitely more than he expected. Dean swallows. “I don’t want to be a burden.”

Michael straightens up a bit more, and this time the stiffness looks like it’s on purpose. “You’re not a burden. Yes or no, Dean?”

How can he says no to that tone of voice? “Yes, Sir.”

Michael smiles again. “Please don’t call me Sir for the moment, it’s distracting.”

“Yes –” Dean bites the rest back at the last moment. He can see Michael’s eyes twinkle in amusement, and has to fight a smile himself. He can feel the tension of the last hour slowly drain away.

“Listen,” Michael says. “I could replace you with someone with a clean past, but that won’t guarantee loyalty. It’s obvious that you love Raphaela. It’s obvious that you would risk a lot for her. That’s worth more than you seem to think.” He takes a deep breath. “I was afraid my feelings for you would cloud my judgement, but considering what I just read, this is a very clear case.”

Wait, has Michael just admitted feelings for him? For a moment Dean’s thinking spins around that fact, before the rest of what Michael has said sinks in. He can really keep his job? “What about Sam?” he asks.

“Your brother has managed to get through to Gabriel. I could hire ten more body guards and he would probably just shake them again and get into trouble. But he wants to stay near Sam and your brother seems to share your values. So I don’t see why I should let him go either.”

“You’re not mad at me?”

“I was never mad at you. The only reason I considered finding someone else for the job was that I thought you might give in to blackmail under enough pressure. But this …” He holds the cell phone up, then hands it back to Dean. “... you handled it pretty well, it shows how loyal you are, and I trust that you’ll come to me right away next time.”

“I will –” Again, Dean interrupts himself, before he can add the title. “What about us?” he asks after a moment. He hasn’t even dared thinking about it so far, but now there’s enough hope that the thought creeps up again.

“Do you still want me after what I just did?” There’s the same careful hope in Michael’s eyes.

“You were trying to protect your family, I get that,” Dean says.

The smile that blooms on Michael’s face now is shy and fucking gorgeous. “I’d … love to take you to dinner again, soon.”

That makes Dean laugh. “Dude, you don’t have to take me to dinner every time.”

The offended look he gets for that is kind of cute. “It’s called courting, Dean, and I will take you to dinner as often as I see fit as long as you let me.”

Suddenly, there are butterflies in Dean’s belly again. How does Michael always manage to make him feel like a teenager with his first crush? “I … uhm …” He really wants to say something nice in return, something that lets Michael know that he appreciates it and he’s in it for more than the awesome sex, too. When he opens his mouth, though, all that comes out is: “I hope you don’t plan on buying me jewels, too, because that’d really be a waste of ...” Dean trails off, when Michael steps closer and lifts a hand to touch his cheek carefully, as if he isn’t sure he’s allowed. Dean leans into the touch, and a moment later their lips meet. The rest of the tension melts away, while they kiss, leaving Dean weak in the knees. When Michael pulls back a little, Dean has to keep his hands on Michael’s shoulders, because he isn’t sure, if his legs would carry him.

“Permission to call you Sir again?” Dean asks, voice rough. That’s kind of a way of saying he appreciates it, isn’t it?

Immediately Michael’s eyes go dark. “Are you sure?” he asks though. “I’ve thought about it and ... There already is a power imbalance between the two of us, do you really want to emphasize it like that?”

He’s thought about it. That’s what sticks with Dean. While Dean had been angsting, Michael had been thinking about what’s best for their relationship. Immediately, the butterflies are back again.

“You’re into it, right?” Dean asks.

That gets him a careful nod.

“Good. Listen. Sometimes I just need to not think. I’ve spent most of my life trying to keep dad from killing people, because he thought they’re a werewolf or a demon or whatever. I basically raised Sammy. I always had to stay sharp. And I’m not that deep into all that BDSM stuff, I’m not into pain and humiliation and stuff like that, but sometimes just having some simple orders to follow, having someone else take over all that thinking for me is even better than getting piss drunk.” He takes a deep breath. “Is that okay for you? I’m sorry if you hoped for something more. I’m willing to try everything at least once, though ...”

Michael pulls him closer again and presses a kiss to his forehead. “That’s perfect, Dean.”

And Dean had thought it was all good already, but he feels himself relaxing even more at that.

“Now,” Michael says, “go tell our new friend what we know. I’ll have Uriel take Raphaela to Lucifer’s apartment, but I’ll stay here.”

Dean doesn’t like that at all. He takes a step back. “You should –”

“You’ll stay with me and you’ll be responsible for my safety,” Michael interrupts him. “Can you do that?”

Oh. Okay, yes, that works for him. “Yes, Sir.”

Michael smiles. “Very good.”


	24. Who Hurt by Boyfriend?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Gabriel is a tease and they're all punching Nazis (technically).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't explain this chapter. I wanted to give them some bonding time and this happened.
> 
> I'm not sure, if I should warn for something here. There's a bit of sex, some violence and really bad jokes. (Though I feel like that sums my writing up pretty well most of the time.)

The message that everything is alright again arrives at Sam’s and Gabriel’s phones almost at once. The one Sam gets is from Dean and just a short: **Mike is on board with the plan and we still got our jobs.**

In contrast Raphaela texts Gabriel a fuckton – as Lucifer calls it – of happy smiley faces and emoticons that show fireworks, party hats and champagne bottles.

Two kinds of people.

Sam feels himself getting weak from relief and gets hugged by Gabriel and Lucifer both. “Told you we’re going to keep you,” Lucifer says.

* * *

They arrive at the location of their next gig early, and when Lucifer comes back with the hotel room keys and Sam, Gabriel and Lucifer get a room with one king sized bed again, Balthazar throws them suspicious glances. He doesn’t comment on it, though.

It’s a nice bed, even bigger than the one they had in their last hotel, and Sam and Gabriel promptly fall into it to catch a few more hours of sleep, while Lucifer announces he has some errands to run.

Sam isn’t sure how long he slept, but he wakes up from hands wandering up and down his torso, leaving warm, tingling trails in their wake. He gives a content sigh and stretches under the touch without opening his eyes.

“You’re gorgeous.” There’s a smile in Gabriel’s voice, and his hands travel down along Sam’s hip over his thigh. “But tell me to stop, if you’re not in the mood. I just thought I should make use of my free pass on that stupid rule.”

Sam opens his eyes and reaches for Gabriel. The other man catches his arm, though, and strokes over the inside of Sam’s forearm with his thumb.

“Don’t. Just let me.”

“Bossy ...” Sam knows he sounds more sleepy than anything else and he doesn’t mind anyway.

Gabriel chuckles and keeps a hold on Sam’s arm with one hand, while the other one glides up over Sam’s biceps, his shoulder and down his side again. When he speaks, though, he sounds dead serious. “You’ll tell us, if we get too bossy, won’t you? We can try and tone it down a little. Let you take charge during sex, too. I mean, Luci would probably have to be tied up to keep him from making a struggle for dominance out of it, but that can be arranged.” He grins and suggestively lifts both eyebrows.

That’s not a bad mental image at all, though Sam can’t imagine Lucifer looking anything but pissed about it. Which would be totally hot, if he’s honest.

“Gabe, did I give you reason to worry?” Sam asks.

“No, just saying.” Gabriel takes a deep breath, but his hands never stop moving, warm on Sam’s skin. “Luci and me, we get too much fast. We both lost people, because we’re too bossy and sometimes incapable of giving someone space. The problem is, if you lose someone, the urge to get even more controlling next time gets stronger. I just want to make sure this is clear. Tell us to back off, if you have to. Tell us, before you feel like we’re not leaving you room to breath. Just don’t shut us out, if there’s trouble.”

It’s very similar to what Lucifer has said before, that he thinks that most people have trouble dealing with one of them, let alone both of them together. They really are afraid they’re going to ruin this, are they? “Don’t worry, I will complain, if you breath down my neck too much.”

“Good.” Gabriel’s fingers stop at the hem of Sam’s boxer shorts, then travel along it. Again, Sam pushes into the touch a little and reaches for Gabriel to pull him closer. Again, Gabriel catches his wrist to keep him from touching. “Seriously, Samshine, can you just lie back and enjoy?” And with that all the seriousness is gone again and there’s a mischievous glint in his eyes. “I’m getting tempted to tie you up.”

Sam bites his lips over a smile, not discouraging at all. “What’s this about anyway?”

“Getting to know your body better, maybe a little bit of teasing.” Gabriel’s other hand comes to lie on Sam’s knee, stroking up the inside of his thigh.

Sam lifts an eyebrow. “A little bit of teasing?”

“Okay, lots of teasing, if you let me,” Gabriel admits with a grin. “Luci doesn’t have the patience for stuff like that, he just wants to see you come too badly. So I have to make the most of the opportunity. You think you’re up for it?”

It sounds like a challenge and Sam’s not going to back down from it. “Try me.”

The way Gabriel’s eyes light up never gets old. He gets up and rummages in his bag a little, before he comes back with a tie. He really hadn’t been kidding. “The rules are as follows. If it gets too much, use your safeword. And if you just want to come, tell me and I’ll make you come, I’m not doing this to see you beg. But I’d like to drag this out as long as possible, so hold out for me as long as you can, okay?”

Sam nods.

“Oh, and feel free to curse me, if it helps.”

Sam throws him a skeptical look. “I’m starting to regret this already.”

Gabriel laughs and kisses him and then proceeds to tie Sam’s hands to the headboard. They’re definitely going to kill him one day.

* * *

It starts out pleasantly enough with Gabriel exploring Sam’s body with his hands and his mouth, watching his reactions carefully. The only area Gabriel avoids is Sam’s dick, which gets hard fast, tenting his boxers. Only now and then there’s the ghost of a touch that makes Sam moan and yearn for more.

It takes maybe fifteen minutes for him to start cursing, because it’s just not enough skin to skin contact, not enough friction. And that makes Gabriel’s eyes light up even more, and his grin definitely gets a bit wicked. It’s as hot as Lucifer’s big letter MINE look, that’s fore sure.

To keep himself from giving in after this embarrassingly short amount of time, Sam starts random conversations. “I kind of expected you to just jump my bones for your rule pass.”

Gabriel chuckles. “I can do that with Luci around just fine. This here, though?” He swirls his tongue around a spot right below Sam’s belly button and makes Sam arch against his bonds. “Luci really freaking likes watching people fall apart, when they come. I could never make him sit and watch this for half an hour or an hour even.”

Sam groans. “An hour?”

“Don’t think too much about it. Just think about what happens right this minute.”

There’s silence for a while, just Sam’s gasps and moans.

“What’s this doing for you by the way?” Sam asks a bit later to keep from uttering words like ‘please’ over and over again.

Gabriel smirks. “Want me to take a picture of you so you can see how you look like this?”

“Fuck, no!”

“That’s a pity.”

An amount of time later that’s either an eternity or maybe fifteen more minutes Sam has settled into a headspace that’s only focused on the here and now, on the inches of skin Gabriel is touching right this moment, and on their little exchanges now and then about nothing in particular. He is surprisingly content, even though his whole body is taut and thrumming with need.

Which is why he actually startles, when the door opens. He relaxes a little bit, when he sees it’s Lucifer. The punk steps in, kicks the door closed and freezes. A very unfounded pang of guilt shoots through Sam, but then a slow grin spreads on Lucifer’s face. He drops a plastic bag he brought and saunters closer, blue eyes on Sam.

“Hi,” Sam offers.

Lucifer snorts. “How long?”

“Forty minutes,” Gabriel says.

“And I’m the one who got the name Lucifer.” Lucifer sits on the bed and leans down for a kiss. Sam meets his lips hungrily, pulling on his restraints without even realizing. “Looking good, Sammy. How are you holding up?”

“Don’t know, what you’re talking about,” Sam answers with his best cocky grin. “I’m fine.” The next moment he arches into the touch, when Lucifer’s hand trails down his torso and stops at the hem of his boxer shorts.

“Yeah,” Lucifer says. He has that hungry look in his eyes again. “Totally not a bit desperate by now.”

“Luci,” Gabriel says warningly. “Hands off!”

Sam sighs. “Could you not fight?”

To his surprise, Lucifer smiles and lifts both hands in an appeasing gesture. “Fine. He’s yours for the moment, Gabe. But the gig starts soon, so don’t drag it out too much longer.”

Gabriel gives a grumpy sound, but then he looks from Lucifer to Sam and back. Finally he makes an inviting gesture. “Be my guest.”

Well, that is better in a way, though Sam really wishes they’d stop making him a gift for each other. “Gabe …”

Gabriel answers with an innocent look. “If Sam’s alright with it, of course,” he adds as if he’s always planned on saying just that.

Lucifer starts playing with the hem of Sam’s boxer shorts again. “Want to come?”

That’s an offer Sam can’t refuse.

When he comes down from his high a while later, he feels exhausted, but happy. Gabriel unties him and Lucifer massages his wrists to get the blood flow going again.

“Do we have to keep the stupid no touching rule up?” Gabriel asks.

“I second that question,” Sam pitches in.

Lucifer shrugs. “Seems to work fine without it. But, Gabe, if you –”

Oh no, not again. Hurriedly, Sam places a finger over Lucifer’s lips. “No talk about my virginity again or you’ll be the one who gets tied up next time.”

Lucifer smirks. “Is that supposed to be a threat? Because I tell you what, if you can hold me down for it, you can tie me up.”

Okay, that mental image is more than hot. “You think I couldn’t?”

There’s a challenge in Lucifer’s eyes. “Try it.”

Sam really isn’t one to back down from a challenge. “As you wish.” With that he pushes himself up and tackles Lucifer.

It takes every trick Sam knows, but in the end he has Lucifer pinned to the mattress. He looks a bit scandalized and also a little bit pissed about it, but Sam will be damned, if that isn’t a hard on pressing against his thigh. In the meantime Gabriel has retreated to the safety of a chair and watches them with that wicked smile he also had while teasing Sam.

When Sam leans down for a kiss, he gets one that’s mostly teeth and most likely leaves a mark on his lower lip. “How much time until we have to leave?” he asks.

Gabriel answers. “Half an hour.”

Sam shifts a little, so that he can hold Lucifer’s wrists with one hand. With the other one he opens the button of Lucifer’s pants. He watches the punk attentively, waiting for any sign of protest, but there’s just a bit of defiance and still the challenge in Lucifer’s eyes.

“I think we should leave tying you up to when we have a bit more time, but do you want to come?”

Lucifer smirks.

* * *

Sam hadn’t thought that he can get any happier, but when Lucifer comes hard and lies underneath him panting afterwards he almost feels high. It’s one thing to know that they respect him, despite that they sometimes slip up and talk about him like property and even though he wears Lucifer’s collar and lets Gabriel tie him up. It’s a lot better, though, to see how Lucifer has no problems switching roles for a change, that he doesn’t think it beneath him to be in the same position he has Sam in quite often. Although he apparently really has to be held down to stay down.

When Sam lets go of Lucifer’s wrists and sits back on his heels, he can feel the mattress dip behind him, and then Gabriel’s arms wrap around his waist. “Congrats, Samshine, I think you just tamed him.”

“Fuck you, Gabe,” Lucifer says, still breathless.

Gabriel chuckles. “Love you, too, Luci.”

* * *

As it turns out, Lucifer’s errands had consisted of, first, getting a new collar for himself, and second, getting Sam a pair of jeans with holes in it. To Sam’s surprise it actually fits and Gabriel bugs him about wearing it to the gig until he gives in. Now he fits in pretty well.

It’s the last gig of their little tour, and the band decides to celebrate by visiting an actual bar, not just the one in the hotel. Sam is glad he has slept a little, because the bar they find is packed full with people and he has to keep an eye out for potential threats all the time. Unfortunately one of those comes to stand right next to Lucifer, while he, Gabriel and Sam are getting drinks. It’s a monster of a man with a shaved head, combat boots and the confederate flag sewn onto his jacket. He bumps into Lucifer, when he places his order, and of course Lucifer bristles and goes “Hey!” in an angry voice. That’s when Sam knows this isn’t going to end well.

The skinhead turns slowly in that way people do, when they know they’re intimidating and have watched too many bad movies. He looks Lucifer up and down with disgust. “Is there a problem, punk?”

On Sam’s other side, Gabriel snorts. “A+ delivery of a very clichéed line.”

Lucifer draws breath to most likely tell the guy that, yes, there is a problem and it’s standing right in front of him, but Sam puts a hand on his shoulder. “There isn’t,” he says.

“Sam,” Lucifer says in a calm voice that has an icy edge underneath it, “why don’t you take Gabe and our drinks back to our table?”

Sam leans forward and lowers his voice. “That guy has at least three friends. If you start a fight here, it’ll be bad. Please, just step away from this, please, don’t make my job harder.”

The skinhead watches them with a sneer, but thankfully doesn’t say anything. Lucifer throws Sam an annoyed look, but then his eyes land on Gabriel and his face goes a bit softer. He nods and grabs some of their drinks. “Let’s go.”

“You know I can handle myself in a fight, too?” Gabriel says on their way back to their table, where Meg, Castiel and Balthazar are waiting for them.

“Yeah,” Lucifer says, “but you getting into a fight that would’ve been avoidable, means Sam failed at his job.”

Sam shoots him a smile. “Thank you.”

Lucifer just shrugs and grumbles something that sounds like: “You can thank me properly later.”

* * *

Balthazar is the first to leave their little celebration, and of course he does so with a woman on each arm. Meg and Castiel take their leave a bit later, also with a cute girl between the two of them. Really, what is it with this band?

This leaves only the three of them. Lucifer had been getting more grumpy with every drink, staring glumly at the group of skinheads still standing by the bar. Apparently he regrets not having punched at least one of them. When they finally leave without anything happening, Sam breathes a sigh of relief.

Not much later Gabriel pays and they leave the bar, too. It’s not far to the hotel, so they decide to walk.

Sam only recognizes the skinheads, when they’re almost level with them. They’re leaning in the darkest area between two street lights against a wall, smoking, and don’t seem to have spotted them yet. Still, Sam pulls Gabriel to his left so that he’s the farthest away from the group.

As soon as they do actually pass them, the big one that had bumped into Lucifer at the bar recognizes him. “Hey, punk!” he calls, speech slurring a bit, and steps into Lucifer’s path. “Are you feeling lucky today, punk?”

His friends laugh as if he’d made the best joke ever.

“I never thought I’d see the day where someone quotes that line at Luci,” Gabriel comments dryly. “I mean, I don’t know, if there ever was a time when it would’ve been funny, but if there was, you’re at least 20 years too late.”

Great. That’s not helping at all.

Big guy fixes Lucifer with a stare again. “Your name’s Lucy?” he asks with a grin.

“Lucifer,” Lucifer corrects him. “Your Satanic Majesty will do, though. Now, would you mind letting me through?”

Not helping either.

“Nope,” the skinhead says. “What you gonna do about it?”

“Lucifer!” Sam warns.

“Sorry, Sammy, but there are limits and no amount of puppy eyes is going to make me run from this. Keep your eyes on Gabe.” And with that he punches the guy in front of him.

It’s a good punch, one that makes the skinhead stumble back and fall on his ass, and if he’d been alone the fight would probably have been over, before it really started. It’s a shame that he really has three friends.

One of them tries to grab Lucifer and gets kicked for his trouble. The second one hangs back a little. But the third one pulls out a jack knife and makes the blade fold out in one swift movement he has probably practiced a lot in front of a mirror. Lucifer is too busy with his first few opponents to notice the pointy end of the knife coming at him.

“Stay back, Gabe!” With that Sam launches himself into the fight.

It’s a near thing. The knife slices his palm, before he can get a good grip, but he grits his teeth and ignores the pain, twisting the skinhead’s arm until he lets go of the weapon. The guy tries to punch him, but Sam ducks away, swinging his left fist himself. It connects with the skinhead’s stomach and he stumbles back, doubling over.

The second one of Lucifer’s opponents is crumbling to the ground, too, so Sam turns to Gabriel, just to see the shorter man kick the last of the skinheads neatly between the legs. Of course Gabriel is fighting dirty.

And with that the fight it over. Lucifer kicks the leader of the skinheads again for good measure, while he’s still on the ground. “You better stay down. I don’t want to see any of you running after us, got that?” Another kick to the ribs, then he turns away. “And if any of you –”

He stops, when his eyes fall on Sam, more specific his hand. Sam looks down, too, and sees blood dripping to the ground.

When he looks up again, Lucifer’s face has gone dark. “Okay, which one of you hurt my boyfriend?”

“It’s alright,” Sam says. “I’m fine. It’s just a scratch.”

“This one,” Gabriel says at the same time. He picks up the knife from the sidewalk and steps towards the guy Sam has punched in the stomach. There’s anger in his eyes, too. The skinhead is leaning against the building behind him, trying to get upright again, looking like he’s going to be sick.

“Can we just get lost?” Out of habit Sam looks around, making sure there are no cops near by.

“Sure we can, Sammy, just a second.” Lucifer’s voice is still full of ice. He steps next to Gabriel, and holds the hand out for the knife. After a moment of hesitation, Gabriel hands it over.

“Lucifer no!” But when Sam reaches out with his good hand, he doesn’t grab Lucifer’s arm, he grabs Gabriel’s to pull him back. Apparently Lucifer always finds a way to do something stupid anyway. Better stick to his actual job for a change.

“Just giving this gentleman back what’s his.” With that Lucifer lifts the knife and lunges.

There’s a high pitched scream, then Lucifer steps back with a grin. The knife is buried deep in a crack in the wall right above the skinhead’s shoulder. And maybe it has grazed some skin, but it looks like it’s only gone through the guy’s jacket, pinning him to the wall. Sam figures it’s good to have confirmation that his boyfriends are actually kind of reasonable, when they’re out for revenge.

“Nice aim,” Gabriel says, putting his arm around Sam’s waist. “I think I wouldn’t have been that precise.”

“Can we go now?” Sam asks, throwing glances at the other three. They haven’t gotten up yet.

“We can,” Lucifer agrees.

* * *

They get Sam to an emergency room for stitches, which overdoes it a bit in Sam’s opinion, because he could’ve taken care of an injury like that himself. He has taken care of injuries like that himself in the past. But he has health insurance now and Gabriel and Lucifer insist.

Both of his boyfriends stick close to him all the time, always touching in some way. They don’t talk much. Only when they get back to their hotel room, Lucifer says: “I don’t get why he attacked you and not me.”

“Oh, but he did attack you, Luci,” Gabriel says. “Samshine saved you from losing a kidney.”

“What?” Lucifer turns to Sam, face angry for some reason. “Sam, what were you thinking?”

Sam fold his arms in front of him. He knows it’s a defensive posture, but he can’t help it. “It’s my job and you’re welcome.”

With two steps, Lucifer is in Sam’s space. “I’m not your fucking job, Sam! Gabe is your job. I picked that fight myself, so I’m responsible for myself. I don’t need a bodyguard!”

Now anger wells up in Sam, too. He holds Lucifer’s gaze and takes a half step forward himself, coming basically nose to nose with Lucifer. “Do you really think I’ll just stand back and watch you getting stabbed? You agreed to be mine, Lucifer, and I intend to keep you as much as you intend to keep me!” That’s a language they should understand, isn’t it? “If I don’t get to shut you out, when there’s trouble, you don’t get to fight your fights alone!”

Something in Lucifer’s eyes goes softer at that, but he still stares at Sam somewhat angrily. “You got hurt. Gabe could’ve gotten hurt and you could’ve gotten into trouble for it.”

“Yeah, you should have thought about that, before you punched the guy.”

“I think I proved I can hold myself in a fight,” Gabriel pitches in, but none of them pays any attention to him.

“They’d never have let us walk away anyway,” Lucifer says.

“Maybe, but that still doesn’t mean that I’ll let someone stab you. And I made sure Gabe was in the safest position possible, before the fight even started. Helping you was a calculated risk.” Of course something still could have happened, and Sam feels his stomach twist just thinking about it, but in comparison Lucifer had been in a lot more danger than Gabriel. 

“I don’t need a bodyguard,” Lucifer insists. “I managed to get that even into Michael’s thick skull, can you get it into yours, too?”

Sam huffs in annoyance. “You don’t have a bodyguard. You have a boyfriend. I happen to care about both of your wellbeing, no matter if I get paid for it or not. Get used to it.”

For a moment Sam is still subjected to Lucifer’s glare, then the punk grabs Sam’s collar and pulls him down for a rough kiss. “Idiot.”

Sam kisses back almost as roughly.

“Angry make out is something that really suits you two,” Gabriel comments.

“Idiot,” Lucifer mumbles again against Sam’s lips. This time Sam can also feel him smile, though.

* * *

Sam is on painkillers and a bit drowsy, so they curl up in bed soon after. Only Gabriel stays on his laptop for a bit longer.

“Jackpot!” he says after while.

“What is it?” Sam asks half asleep.

“Dick has asked Metatron for a meeting next week to ‘discuss sensitive matters’. Sounds suspicious, don’t you think?”

“Where?” Lucifer wants to know.

Gabriel squints at the screen. “Some café near where Metatron lives. One town over, when we get home.”

“Someone should listen in,” Lucifer says.

“Yeah,” Gabriel agrees. “And there’s only one person here they won’t recognize.”

Sam groans. “Fine, I’ll do it. But come to bed now, will you?”

“Sure, sugar bun.”

Lucifer makes a gagging noise. “Seriously, Gabe, if Sam doesn’t kick you soon for nicknames like that, I will.”


	25. Bets and Big Brothers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which some people learn about the news

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since I'm traveling today and don't know how the wifi situation is where I'm going the new chapter comes today. The plot will continue next chapter.

On the bus on their way back the band is in a good mood, congratulating each other on how they rocked the whole tour. There are also news from Lilith. Apparently she is in rehab again and there is hope.

They drop Lucifer and his stuff off at his apartment first. Raphaela is there with Uriel and excited to see all of them. After everything is unloaded, Lucifer hugs every band member and Gabriel and pulls Sam in for a kiss by his collar – he really loves to do that. “I’ll drop by at the mansion soon. Don’t kill him with your teasing in the meantime, Gabe.”

Gabriel laughs and puts an arm around Sam. “Can’t promise anything.”

“That’s it!” Balthazar calls out from the door of the bus. “I want to know now! Are all three of you fucking?”

Seriously? Sam throws Balthazar a bitchface, Gabriel bursts out laughing, and Lucifer calls back: “Mind your own business, Balthy!”

Meanwhile, Uriel looks at Balthazar with a scandalized face, pulling Raphaela back inside the building.

“I’d say that’s a yes.” Meg extends a hand towards Balthazar. “Pay up!”

Grumpily he pulls out ten dollars and hands them over.

“You had a bet on that?” Sam asks.

Balthazar shrugs. “Yeah, Meg said it was all three of you, I said there’s no way they could’ve corrupted you that fast and the shared room was just Crowley’s sense of humor.”

“What can I say?” Gabriel says. “We’re a great influence.”

* * *

Next for getting dropped off are Sam and Gabriel. Dean is already waiting for them. He looks Sam up and down, taking in the shredded jeans, the band shirt and the collar. “Didn’t take you long to go native, huh?”

Sam just hugs him. “I’m happy to see you, too, Dean.”

“Course, Sammy.” Dean slaps his back, then lets him go and looks him over again, brotherly concern in his eyes. “Heard you got hurt. Mike told me what happened.”

With a shrug, Sam shows him his bandaged hand. “Nothing too bad.”

Dean furrows his brows. “Dad showed us how to disarm someone holding a knife a thousand times, didn’t you pay attention?”

“Come on, Dean, as if you’ve never messed up.”

Dean doesn’t look happy, but he does drop the subject. Instead he looks at Gabriel with a mix of conflicting emotions on his face.

Gabriel tilts his head to the side. “What?”

“Look, I appreciate the help, but I somehow got the feeling, I don’t know half the things that happened on your little trip yet, and I don’t like that.”

Sam sighs. There it is. He knew it was just a matter of time until Dean figured out that there was something fishy about him spending the night in the same room as Lucifer _and_ Gabriel. And they’d talked about it during the ride home and had come to the agreement that their older brothers will find out eventually anyway. So why not get it over with?

“You’re right,” he says.

Dean looks between Sam and Gabriel, and even though Sam doesn’t check, he’s pretty sure Gabriel is doing that suggestive thing with his eyebrows again.

“Is Lucifer pissed right now or …?” Dean lets the sentence hang there unfinished.

“Oh no,” Gabriel says, “I’d say he’s pretty happy.”

Dean’s whole face arranges itself into an expression that spells ‘Seriously?’ very clearly. “Fucking hell, Sammy?”

Sam just answers with a shrug. He could try and explain himself, but over the years it has always proven to be more effective to just wait until Dean has worked through something by himself.

Dean’s face gets a bit darker and he glowers as Gabriel. “I swear, if this has anything to do with you knowing about our past –”

“I swear, the next person who accuses me – or Luci for that matter – of rape gets their room flooded with crawly, wiggly things,” Gabriel interrupts him. And when Sam looks at him now, he has that fierce expression in his eyes. Sam puts a hand on his shoulder, kisses him on the cheek and watches the anger melt away. In a way it’s amazing that he can do that.

The gesture seems to placate Dean, too. Sam can practically watch him step down from overprotective brother mode. “Alright, sorry,” he says after a moment.

Gabriel smiles and there’s only the hint of an edge left in it.

Sam clears his throat. “I have to go to Michael’s office for debriefing. See you two later?”

Dean nods and Gabriel slaps his ass by way of good bye. Of course he does.

* * *

Michael makes Sam retell the skinhead attack in detail. He listens calmly and attentively and Sam wonders how Dean has managed to stand an hour of admitting everything he’s ever done wrong to a face like that.

“Why did you help Lucifer, when it was your job to protect Gabriel?” Michael asks finally.

Sam has dreaded that kind of question. He dry swallows and clears his throat. “Should I have watched him getting stabbed?”

For a moment it looks like Michael is honestly considering it, then he shakes his head. “I was just wondering. Dean told me you and Lucifer are in a … relationship? If you’re not sure you can keep your priorities straight, when he’s around, I want to know. We can always have you and Dean switch, if the need arises.”

And there they go again. “I actually care for Gabriel just as much as I care for Lucifer.”

Michael lifts an eyebrow. “It seems to have been a very interesting trip.”

Sam opts to not comment on that. “Of course, if you think I should rather guard Raphaela …” He can see Gabriel and Lucifer in his free time after all. He’s happy with whatever arrangements Michael likes best as long as they get to keep this job.

There’s the hint of an actual smile on Michael’s face now. “No. I can hardly think of any better motivation for a body guard. You have to let me know, if there is tension in your relationship, though. The reason I still trust you with my siblings’ safety is that your brother promised me absolute honesty. I expect the same from you.” Now there’s steel in Michael’s voice. Sam doesn’t even want to think about what it would be like, if the oldest Shurley brother got angry.

He nods. “Of course.”

“Speaking of honesty … How many laws did you break to uncover the things I’ve heard from Dean about Dick Roman?”

Sam dry swallows again. It’s probably okay to tell now that the deed is done, isn’t it? Gabriel and Lucifer have never given the impression that anything bad will happen, if their family finds out about what they’re doing. To the contrary they always seemed pretty confident that the will get bailed out, if they ever get caught. So Sam decides to err on the side of honesty. “I didn’t count.”

Michael lifts an eyebrow again.

“You told me to keep him safe, not keep him from making trouble for other people,” Sam hurries to add. “I figured, Gabriel was safer with me accompanying him and helping him than he would have been, if I had tried to keep him from doing anything illegal. He would have just slipped away and done it by himself.”

Michael sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose. “Yes, I thought so. You made the right choice.”

Sam feels like he’s just avoided more trouble by hair’s breadth anyway.

“Do they have anything illegal planned in the near future?” Michael goes on. “Lucifer is part of this, too, isn’t he?”

Sam nods and then shakes his head. “He is. And not as far as I know.” Spying on Dick Roman isn’t actually illegal after all.

Michael looks at him as if he doesn’t quite believe that. “We do count hacking.”

Oh, shit. Yes, of course they do count hacking. “I’m sorry. Yes, Gabriel will probably be hacking something, because he always is. I filed that under minor offences.”

Another sigh. “You fit right in with them, don’t you?”

Sam can’t tell, if that’s a compliment or an insult. “Dean told you everything.” He can’t help but sound a bit defensive.

Michael nods. “Try to keep in mind that we’re actually trying to be law abiding citizens here. If you can keep them from doing something illegal, do so, though I realize it may not be possible often. And you will report to me about everything they do.”

That order gives Sam a really uneasy feeling. “You want me to tell on them?” Did he just get into his own textbook example of a loyalty conflict? Didn’t they have enough of those yet?

The hint of a smile on Michael’s face makes Sam hope. “No. Just keep them safe and report to me afterwards.”

That makes Sam breath easier. “Thank you.”

“We will see, if you still thank me in a few months.” Michael leans forward, elbows on his desk. “With Lu… Nick in the mix, your work will be ten times as hard. You have to keep him from getting Gabriel into more trouble than he’d have gotten into by himself.”

The sudden urge to defend Lucifer makes Sam speak, before he can think about it. “Lucifer is part of your family, too, and you could at least call him by a name he doesn’t hate.”

Great, getting into a fight with the guy who is his boss and Dean’s boyfriend.

Michael’s presses his lips together into a thin lines. “I will call him by a name he doesn’t hate as soon as he starts acting responsible. Keep your eyes open around him.”

Sam grits his teeth to keep from saying something he really will regret. “You just left Raphaela with him,” he points out instead.

“Because as long as we don’t know what to do about Gadreel yet, she’s still safer with him than she is here. You have to keep a closer eye on Gabriel, too, by the way. I’d send him off to Lucifer as well, if Lucifer had the room.”

So Michael does call his brother Lucifer. It’s as if he has to remind himself that he should be angry to call him Nick. As soon as he doesn’t pay attention, it’s Lucifer again. That makes Sam’s anger die down a little.

“I will,” he says. “Is that all?”

“Yes, that’s all.”

* * *

When Sam gets to his room, finally, Gabriel is lying on his belly in bed in front of his laptop, lollipop in one cheek. He looks up and smiles at Sam. “Did Mike give you any trouble?”

“Depends if you count him wanting a report on anything illegal you do trouble.”

“Before or after we did it?”

“After.”

Gabriel grins. “Good. He knows not to pick the fights he can only lose.” He pats the bed next to him. “Come on. Dick and Metatron will meet the day after tomorrow. We have a few things to discuss about your mission, before they do.”

Sam rolls his eyes, kicks his shoes off and stretches out next to his boyfriend, putting his chin on Gabriel’s shoulder to have a good look at the screen. Gabriel literally purrs and leans his head against Sam’s, and Sam finally relaxes completely. The only thing missing is a second warm body next to him.


	26. Spy mission

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Sam makes a pretty good spy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's actual plot here!
> 
> Also, Sam loses his "virginity", so there's sex, too.

Sam arrives at the café at the same time Dick Roman does. He’s wearing his flannel again and he left the collar with Gabriel and Lucifer (currently both at Lucifer’s apartment, while Raphaela is shopping with Uriel), because he doesn’t have any use for anything that makes him stand out right now. His height does enough of that already.

Metatron is already sitting at one of the tables and Sam picks one near by. He takes his phone out and starts a voice recording app in case any of them says anything that should be preserved for posterity.

For a while there’s only smalltalk, though. Sam orders something to drink and leans back in his chair listening.

“You do know a boy called Gadreel, don’t you, Marv?” Dick Roman asks after a while. Sam has to fight to keep his face impassive and double checks to make sure his cell phone is still recording.

“Gadreel?” Metatron acts all innocent. “Oh, yes, I think he visited one of my writing courses once. Writes really bad poetry. Not very promising. I haven’t heard from him in a long time.”

Sam can’t help, but feel a bit sorry for Gadreel.

“It looks like he might be responsible for the destruction of Chuck Shurley’s manuscript,” Dick Roman goes on.

Metatron leans back in his chair, a grin on his face that could mean anything. “You’re not trying to blame me again, aren’t you?”

As if to match the movement, Dick Roman leans forward. “Oh, no, but it seems like the Shurleys are onto the person on whose orders Gadreel acted.”

That wipes the grin off Metatron’s face. “Do they have proof?” He still tries to sound innocent, but it fails miserably.

“Not yet.”

Metatron looks around a bit nervously now and leans forward himself. “Why did you call me here?”

Now it’s Dick Roman, who’s grinning, showing way too much teeth in the process. “Well, I think we owe the person who did it something. So I want to help, if I can.”

That makes Metatron smile again.

“Even though I am a bit angry about not being informed. The whole operation could have been handled a lot better. And of course time is money and I’m not spending mine for nothing.”

“What can you do to help?” Metatron asks all serious now.

“I have a contact, who is close to the investigations and can be convinced to hinder them or plant false leads, if need be.”

And that would be Dean. This could have ended really bad, if Dean had decided to keep everything to himself.

“I’m impressed, Dick. I think we can be very good friends.”

“I don’t want to be friends, I want 50 percent of your next book sale.”

“50 percent?” Metatron realizes he has raised his voice and hurriedly lowers it again. “That’s more than double your normal rate.”

“It still leaves more for you than you will have, if they do find proof.”

Metatron’s unhappy face would probably delight Gabriel and Lucifer, if they saw it. They haggle for a while, until they come to an agreement. With a satisfied nod, Dick Roman gets up. “Settle the bill, will you? I’ll send you our new contract soon.”

Metatron stays in his chair a while longer, staring glumly at his drink. Finally, he gulps it down in one go. When he sets the empty glass down, his eyes land on Sam. Shit. Sam acts as if he doesn’t see it, staring at something behind Metatron as if in thought.

Still, Metatron gets up and walks towards him. Double shit. He smiles at Sam amiably, though. “Hi there, boy.”

Okay, Sam definitely needs a new plan. He hold his phone so that Metatron won’t be able to see the display and smiles back in a way that he hopes looks shy. “Hi.”

“I saw you looking at me.” The smile gets a bit of a creepy edge. Oh no, is the guy trying to flirt with him? He must be twice his age! Though it’s something to work with at least.

Sam does his best to blush and lowers his eyes. “Oh … uhm … sorry … I was wondering ... You look a bit like my favorite author, you know.”

“Really?” Metatron takes a seat opposite Sam without being invited. “What’s his name?”

Sam glances up shyly. “Marv Metatron. Maybe you’ve heard of him. He’s been on the bestsellers list quite a few times, and his work is brilliant, really.” Hopefully that doesn’t overdo it.

It doesn’t, judging by the very satisfied smirk that appears on Metatron’s face now. “Oh, why thank you.”

In his best imitation of someone who has just realized that their idol is sitting in front of them Sam gapes at Metatron. “So it is you! Oh my God!”

The older man’s smirk only gets wider. “Marv will do.” He laughs at his own joke, and Sam politely laughs with him. He tries to think about what a real fan would do now, and he finally settles on: “Oh, I wish I had one of your books with me to sign. Such a pity I don’t.”

“That really is a pity,” Metatron agrees. “But we can take one of those selfie things I hear the youth is all over right now.” He points at Sam’s phone.

Sam fights to keep his smile up. “Oh yes, that’d be great.” He ends the recording app with one push of a button and starts the camera. He drags his chair around the table to get next to Metatron, and the man puts his arm around Sam a bit too enthusiastically for his liking.

“Working out?” Metatron asks casually, feeling up Sam’s biceps.

“Uh … yeah … occasionally.” Sam hurries to take the selfie to get a bit more distance between them again as soon as possible. “Thank you.”

“You know what, I don’t live far from here.” Metatron lets go of him only reluctantly. “I can give you my number, and we can meet again, you bring some books to sign.”

This may come in handy, so Sam nods enthusiastically. “If it isn’t too much of a bother.”

“Not at all, boy. Not at all.”

By the time he has Metatron’s number programmed into his phone and handily ‘remembers’ that he has to meet up with a friend soon, Sam’s skin is crawling from Metatron’s looks and the casual touches that stay just so on the side of what can still be considered friendly. He hurries away and calls himself a taxi to get back to Lucifer’s apartment at fast as possible.

* * *

Raphaela isn’t back yet, when Gabriel opens the door of the apartment to let Sam in. “How did it go, pudding pop?”

Sam steps in, shuddering. “It was Metatron, he admitted it. And he noticed me, but I was able to convince him that I’m a fan.”

Lucifer laughs from where he’s sitting with a guitar in his lap again. “Oh, he’ll have liked that.”

“Yeah, a bit too much. Apparently he’s into guys, too.” Only when that announcement is greeted with absolutely silence, does Sam remember that he has two very possessive boyfriends.

Lucifer sets the guitar aside. “Did he get handsy?”

“Just a little bit.” It won’t do them any good, if they end up killing the guy. “He mostly just flirted in a very self-absorbed way and he gave me his number.”

“Did he now?” Gabriel steps into Sam’s personal space, his hands finding their way underneath his shirt.

“Look, I didn’t flirt back,” Sam says in case they might be worried about that. “I just gushed about his books a little.”

“We’re not saying you did anything wrong, Sammy.” Now Lucifer is there, too, kissing along the line of his jaw. “I’m just glad we already decided to make Metatron’s life miserable, because he keeps providing reasons for it.”

“It was mostly only creepy, because he’s kind of old.” That’s not quite true and Sam isn’t sure, why he tries to defend Metatron, except that he really wishes the combined wrath of Gabriel and Lucifer on no one. At the same time he tilts his head back a little to give Lucifer better access. Their touches make his skin stop crawling, so he helps, when Gabriel starts to unbutton his shirt. Meanwhile, Lucifer sucks a mark into the crook of his neck.

“You’re not seriously seeing him as a threat, are you?” Sam asks.

“No,” Gabriel says.

“But he did _touch_ you,” Lucifer adds as if that explains everything. Well, it kind of does. “Say something, if you want us to stop, though.”

“No! Hell no. This makes it better.”

“Good.” Lucifer tiptoes a little to kiss him, while Gabriel pulls off Sam’s shirt.

“I think I should tell Raphe to take her time shopping,” Gabriel says.

“Yes.” Lucifer busies himself with the button of Sam’s pants. “That’s a very good idea.”

* * *

It doesn’t take long until Sam is naked and gets pushed back onto Lucifer’s bed. Gabriel claims his mouth, while Lucifer crawls between his legs, dipping his tongue in Sam’s belly button and kissing along his thighs. When his lips finally wrap around Sam’s dick, Sam moans into Gabriel’s mouth.

“Hey, Samshine?” Gabriel’s breath is hot on Sam’s face. “How much longer do you plan on holding on to that virginity of yours?”

Sam hadn’t expected Gabriel to be the one to ask, but apparently Lucifer had been set on waiting until Sam brought it up himself again. “I’m not holding on to anything, but in case you hadn’t noticed, we didn’t have much time recently.”

Slowly, Lucifer pulls off Sam’s dick, licking the tip a few times for good measure, making Sam throw his head back and groan. “We have time now.”

“Yes,” Sam says, a little bit nervous now. “So do you need a written invitation …?”

Gabriel gives a little delighted laugh and kisses Sam again. “Can I do the prep?” he asks a moment later. And Sam notices how his eyes almost flicker to Lucifer for a second, but then stay at Sam’s face, directing the question at him. He appreciates the effort.

Lucifer throws Sam a questioning look. Oh yes, they’re really trying hard right now.

“Just say it, Lucifer,” Sam prompts. “I know you want to say it. It’s okay.”

Lucifer grins. “Be my guest, Gabe.”

And okay, yes, Sam can maybe learn to live with them using him to make each other gifts like that.

* * *

By the time Gabriel is three fingers deep in Sam, Sam has come once and is already hard again. “Come on,” he begs. “I’m pretty sure I’m ready. Lucifer, please!”

Lucifer smirks and kisses Sam. “Can’t say no to that.” He looks at his adopted brother. “Gabe …”

For a moment it looks like Gabriel is going to refuse to make room, and Sam holds his breath, dreading another fight. But finally he gives the spot between Sam’s legs up and sits next to Sam, trailing hot kisses up Sam’s torso, while Lucifer takes his place.

Gabriel reaches the hickey on Sam’s collarbone, sucking a new mark into exactly the same spot. Then his lips find Sam’s, and Sam loses himself in the kiss, tries to just stay in the moment, enjoy it as much as he can. There’s no reason to be nervous. None at all.

He hears the cap of the bottle of lube click that Gabriel had produced from his nightstand earlier, and a moment later the head of Lucifer’s dick presses against his rim. Suddenly the nervousness is back with force and Sam tenses up.

“Relax,” Gabriel whispers against his lips.

Lucifer strokes his thighs, not moving in any other way. “I’m not going to hurt you, Sammy.”

Great, now they really do treat him like a blushing virgin. “I know,” he says. “Don’t treat me like I’m breakable. Just give me a minute.”

“Allow me to do something productive with that minute.” Gabriel moves down again, and a moment later Sam can feel Gabriel’s lips wrap around his dick. He swallows Sam down effortlessly, taking him way deeper than he has thought possible. Sam is pretty sure he can feel the tip of his dick hit the back of Gabriel’s throat.

“Fuck! You know how to deepthroat?”

Lucifer chuckles. “Full of surprises, isn’t he?”

Gabriel swallows around Sam, and Sam gasps his agreement.

“Want to learn?” Lucifer asks with a grin on his face. 

Gabriel hums as if he’s in favor of that idea, sending vibrations through Sam’s entire body. Slowly Sam relaxes again, and if Lucifer thought Sam would go all blushing virgin because of that question he still underestimates the power of a challenge. “Sure, why no–”

Sam breaks off the moment Lucifer presses in.

Lucifer is thicker than three of Gabriel’s fingers, and it hurts just a little bit, staying on the right side of painful, though. When Lucifer bottoms out, Gabriel pulls back and Lucifer leans in for another kiss, actually kind of gentle for his standards.

Again, he looks at Sam with a question in his eyes, and only when Sam nods, does he start to move.

All discomfort starts fading soon. Sam wraps his legs around Lucifer’s hips, meeting his thrusts. It doesn’t take long for Lucifer to find exactly the right angle to make him see stars.

Distantly, Sam can feel Gabriel shift next to him, only coming into focus again, when the shorter man grabs his wrists to pull them up, cross them above his head and hold them there. That alone shouldn’t make Sam give a breathy little moan, but it does. Above him, both Shurley boys share a look, Lucifer smirking at Gabriel. “Want something, Gabe?”

Gabriel bats his eyelashes with a sweet little smile. “What makes you think that, Luci?”

“That’s my kink, not yours.”

“Oh, I think it’s Sammy’s, too. And I just so happened to notice that you’re a little bit too short to–” He breaks off, when Sam starts to struggle against his grip to demonstrate that he could break it, if he wants to.

“And you’re talking a little bit too much.” Sam won’t tolerate them having a sass-off now of all times. “Concentrate more on actually holding me down, will you?”

Lucifer’s pace falters and his shoulders shake, while he obviously tries not to burst out laughing.

Gabriel lifts an eyebrow, but tightens his grip. “Bossy. And still way too coherent. Luci, what’re you doing?”

“It’s called trying to be careful, asshole.” Lucifer takes a deep breath and pulls himself together again. “But fine … you want it rough, Sammy?”

Sam smirks up at him. Oh yes, he does. “I’m not going to break.”

“As you wish.” With that Lucifer picks up his pace.

* * *

Lucifer bites down on Sam’s collarbone, when he comes, and Sam is so close to his second orgasm he almost comes from that. Instead of helping him over the edge, though, Lucifer stops moving and crashes their lips together, still breathing hard.

Sam may have whimpered into the kiss a bit, though he’ll deny that to his dying breath, and wriggles underneath Lucifer to get more friction. “Lucifer! I thought Gabe was the tease!”

Lucifer chuckles. “Well, I thought about handing over to him now. You think you can take him, too?”

So this is the next level of their doing each other favors game? Now with them paying tribute to each other’s kinks. “Yeah, bring it on.”

Lucifer slips out, one of the more weird sensations Sam has ever felt, and Gabriel lets go of Sam’s wrists. “Get up on your knees, Samshine.”

Sam doesn’t even question the order, he does as he’s told, getting on all fours, and feels Gabriel easily slide in from behind. He moans, rocks back against him, while Gabriel’s fingers dig into his hips and he sets a pace that’s a bit slower than Lucifer’s was.

Lucifer’s fingers find their way into Sam’s hair, pulling his head up by it for another kiss. “Still alright?”

Sam nods. “Told you I’m not breakable. Though I don’t think I can stand much teasing right now.”

Gabriel’s hand wraps around Sam’s dick, loseley for now. “Just say the word, Sammykins.”

* * *

A while later Sam collapses onto the mattress, spent and happy, and both of his boyfriends snuggle against him. For a moment they do nothing but just lie there and trade lazy kisses.

“So, about that mission of yours ...” Lucifer finally says.

Sam laughs. Of course now that they have the most important thing out of the way, they can talk about what he actually found out. Their priorities are weird. “Dick Roman is the one who tried blackmailing Dean,” he says. “He probably just wanted inside info in general, when he started digging. Metatron got Gadreel to destroy the manuscript, most likely because he wanted you father’s marketing budget for his book, and I have everything they said recorded on my phone.”

“See,” Gabriel says, “perfect.”

Lucifer’s fingers lazily trail over Sam’s torso. “Dick Roman is dealt with, he just doesn’t know it yet. So we only have to decide what to do about Metatron.”

“First we have to tell Mike at least parts of it,” Gabriel says, “so he can decide what to do about Gadreel.”

Lucifer gives an unhappy hmpf at that.

“You don’t want to have Raphe living here forever, don’t you?” Gabriel props himself up on one elbow and looks at Lucifer over Sam’s body. “I mean, I’m sure it’s nice for a while, but you only got one room.”

“Yeah, okay,” Lucifer gives in. “But what do we do about Metatron? Just exposing what he’s done?”

Gabriel huffs. “Boring.”

It’s not very reassuring that this decision is tied to what’s the most entertaining thing to do, but Sam is too groggy and happy to care too much. “You can always destroy his manuscript in return,” he mumbles.

He knows he made a mistake, when both brothers go very still all of a sudden. Most of the grogginess leaves him at once. “No! Don’t! Michael will kill me, if he learns it was my idea.”

“Don’t worry.” Lucifer nibbles on Sam’s earlobe. “He won’t learn about that.”


	27. Family Meeting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which they discuss what to do next.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This got surprisingly canon-y.

The next day sees all of them in the dining room of the mansion sitting around a big table. Well, sitting might not quite be the right word. Gabriel is definitely lounging, and Lucifer has turned his chair around and perches, arms on top of the backrest. Raphaela doesn’t seem to be able to stop moving, bouncing around on her seat. Michael looks like a king holding court at the head of the table, and Chuck Shurley doesn’t even try to sit, he’s walking up and down behind Michael. Sam isn’t sure how the oldest Shurley brother manages not to be irritated by it.

The only ones that are actually sitting are Sam and Dean, Sam between Lucifer and Gabriel and Dean to Michael’s left next to Raphaela.

“We should hand all the evidence over to the police,” Michael says.

“Dude, Mikey.” Gabriel takes a lollipop out of his mouth and points it at Michael, while he leans forward. “We’d have to explain to the cops how we got it. I don’t know about you, but I’d like to avoid that.”

Michael makes a very sour face at that. “We’ll just have to get Gadreel to confess and we can use the recording of the talk between Roman and Metatron.”

“I don’t like throwing Gadreel under the bus.” That’s the first thing Chuck says. He stops pacing and puts both hands on the backrest of Michael’s chair. “I mean … I feel kind of responsible for him turning to Metatron, you know. I should have been more encouraging.”

Lucifer audibly rolls his eyes. “You just told him the truth, dad. It’s not your fault he couldn’t handle it.”

“I just think he’s a good kid …” Chuck looks a bit distressed most of the time, but now he does so even more.

“We have to do something, father,” Michael half turns towards him. “He burned your manuscript!”

Chuck nods. “Yes, of course. I want to talk to him and Naomi first, before I make a decision. We can talk again as soon as I have.” He turns towards the door, then stops again and turns back to them. “Which means you can all go back to whatever you were doing now. Thank you for your good – though sometimes a little questionable – work.”

He’s almost to the door, when Michael calls after him: “Take Uriel with you! He should’ve arrived by now!”

The door closes behind Chuck Shurley, but no one moves. Instead, Dean turns to Michael. “Mike, if you really decide to tell the cops ... Dick Roman mentions an inside man in Sam’s recording. If they dig a little there, they’ll learn it was me and they’ll learn about what he’s been blackmailing me with, too.”

Yes, that had been worrying Sam, too.

Michael’s features go softer, when he looks at Dean. “There is no real evidence and we have good lawyers.”

“Wouldn’t trust the cops not to screw this up for us anyway,” Raphaela says. She looks worried, too.

Michael looks from one face around the table to the other, and Sam doesn’t check, but he’s pretty sure he finds all of them united in distrust against any form of official authority. Finally he sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose. “Fine,” he says. “I get it. We can tell the press instead, no hard proof, just enough hints to ruin him.”

“Oh, Mikey,” Lucifer purrs, “I like that side of you. Please do show it more often.”

Michael glares at him. “If you do anything by yourself, I swear, I’ll –”

“What?” Lucifer interrupts him, voice cold all of a sudden. “Throw me out? You already managed that.”

Sam puts a soothing hand on Lucifer’s knee. At the same time Michael presses his lips together into a small line. “Lucifer …” At least he uses the right name. For now. “Try for once not to do anything rash and try for once not to endanger the people around you. If you go for revenge by yourself and anything goes wrong, you’ll drag Gabriel and Sam down with you. In the least.”

“Give me some credit, Mikey,” Gabriel say. “I don’t need to be dragged.”

“That doesn’t make it better!” There’s a very clear edge in Michael’s voice now. “Can’t all of you just stop breaking laws all the time? I understand that you distrust the authorities! I understand that’s something that’s hard to shake off. But there are other legal means to –”

“Metatron invaded our home!” Lucifer interrupts him. “He made dad hole up for another few months in which we hardly get to see him, because he has to write that fucking book a second time! And he creeped on Sam! Ruining his reputation does not cut it!”

Sam exchanges a look with Dean over the table, silently asking if they should stay out of this. Dean gives a little helpless shrug. When Sam looks at Gabriel next, the smaller man looks sad and a bit lost. That’s a new one. As soon as Gabriel sees Sam look at him, he smiles again, though it’s a bit thin.

“The fact that Gadreel will probably get off with a warning and a reassignment is bad enough,” Lucifer continues.

Michael scoff. “You of all people should be glad father lets people off with a warning. You stalked him for a week, before he took you in!”

“Well, I didn’t have a pretty face to fall back on to earn money. Some of us had to get a bit more creative.”

Michael’s face goes absolutely dark in an instant. “You’ll not try anything on your own.” His voice is almost as icy als Lucifer’s now. He looks at Gabriel next. “That means you, too, Gabriel. Out now!”

“Gladly.” Lucifer jumps off his chair and storms out of the room.

For a moment, there is silence, then Gabriel gets up and hurries towards the door, too. He doesn’t even look back. Sam moves to follow, but Dean catches up to him in the hallway and holds him back.

“Let me go, Dean,” Sam says, voice low. “Don’t go worried big brother on me now. Lucifer isn’t as bad as Michael makes it sound. He doesn’t endanger the people around him or anything like that.”

Dean shoots a look back in the direction of the door, obviously torn. Then something changes in his posture, though, as if he made a decision. He lowers his voice even further. “If you plan to do anything about Dick Roman, too, I want in.”

Sam almost laughs. He hasn’t expected that, but in hindsight, he should have. “Roman is dealt with, it’ll just take a bit longer to take effect.”

That makes Dean lift an eyebrow, obviously impressed. “Your Shurleys don’t half ass things, do they?”

Sam shrugs, but he can’t keep a smile off his face.

“Mike is right, though,” Dean goes on. “Legal measures first. We took this job to get out of the criminal life, remember?”

“Yeah.” Probably not a good time to mention that Sam actually loves doing the forbidden stuff with Gabriel and Lucifer. “But I don’t know, if –”

“I said first,” Dean interrupts him. “Not only. But if your boyfriends do get you in trouble, I’ll –” He stops, when he sees Sam smiling. “What?”

“You called them my boyfriends. And we’ll be careful and I’ll try to keep them from doing anything too reckless. Tell that to _your_ boyfriend. Also tell him he should stop acting like Lucifer is the root of all evil.”

When Dean starts laughing at that, Sam glares at him.

“Sorry,” Dean says, fighting to hold in another giggle. “It’s just funny since his name is Lucifer, you know?”

Sam rolls his eyes, and Dean pats his shoulder. “I’ll talk to my Shurley, you go talk to yours. Let’s see, if we can keep this from escalating into an end of the world kind of thing, eh?”

With that he heads back into the room.

* * *

Sam finds Gabriel in his room, but Lucifer isn’t there. Gabriel is lying on his back on the bed, absentmindedly licking his lollipop, while he stares at the ceiling. When Sam enters the room, he turns his head and gives a weak smile. “Hey, Samshine.”

“Should we go find him?” Sam asks.

Gabriel shrugs. “I wouldn’t, but you maybe should. Try the garden.”

“I think you should come,” Sam says. Judging by how angry Lucifer gets every time the fact is mentioned that he doesn’t live in the mansion any more, he probably doesn’t feel welcome in the Shurley family. Sam going after him will do nothing about that.

“I’m not getting near Mike and Luci, when they’re fighting. That’s not healthy.” Gabriel bites on the lollipop, making it crack. “I guess he’ll go easy on you, though.”

“Gabe …” It’s probably not fair to use the puppy eyes for something like this, but after a moment, Gabriel groans and gets up from the bed.

“Fine. Let’s go get murdered by angry big brother.”

* * *

They find Lucifer in the hindmost corner of the garden, where he’s sitting on a bench between a few rose bushes, staring at nothing. When he hear footsteps approach, he looks up with a scowl on his face. His features only soften a bit, when he recognizes them. Or maybe Sam. Sam isn’t sure about that.

Gabriel hangs back a little and lets Sam take the last few steps alone. Sam sits next to Lucifer on the bench, saying nothing.

Finally, it’s Lucifer who speaks. “Go away.”

“No.”

“Sam, I’m in a fucking foul mood. You don’t want to be near me right now.” He scoff. “I mean, apparently I’m already a danger to the people around me at the best of times, so who knows what might happen to you now.”

Sam sighs. Someone is bitter. “I don’t know, what Michael said sounded just like the typical big brother talk to me. He was probably just worried.”

“Yeah, he’s worried that I might ruin his family.”

“You’re part of that family.” Sam throws Gabriel a look, and finally the younger Shurley comes closer, too. He moves to sit on Sam’s other side, but Sam points to Lucifer’s left instead. Gabriel makes a face that communicates an exasperated ‘bossy’ without any words and does as he’s told. Lucifer watches him with a wary expression.

“We’re actually not even a real family,” Lucifer says. “You said it yourself a few times, Sam. We’re adopted.”

Oh shit. “No, that’s not what I meant with that.”

“No?” Lucifer looks at him sullenly. “What did you mean then?”

Sam takes a deep breath. He isn’t sure, if explaining it will make things worse or better, but not explaining it will definitely not help. “I’m sorry, I was maybe a bit selfish, but I got the impression that you and Gabe are … interested in each other as … more than just brothers. And I … I tried to encourage that …”

He doesn’t look at any of them now, but stares ahead at some insect that’s buzzing between the roses instead. When the silence stretches, he looks up, though.

Lucifer is looking at Gabriel in a questioning way, but Gabriel just stares into his lap. And is he blushing? That’s an unusual sight.

“Sorry,” Sam says again. “That was a stupid idea. You probably need a decent brother more than another boyfriend.”

Lucifer huffs. “Who needs brothers at all?” With that he plucks Gabriel’s lollipop from his mouth, grabs his chin and kisses him. And this is a serious kiss. It’s not for show, that much is obvious from the start.

Gabriel freezes for a moment, but then he kisses back enthusiastically. He scoots closer and wraps his arms around Lucifer’s neck. Sam holds his breath. Part of him wants to cheer, but he isn’t completely sure yet, if this will turn out to be a good thing or not, since half the reason Lucifer did it seems to have been spite.

Sam is the only one who hears the approaching footsteps. “Someone’s coming.”

The warning comes a bit too late. Raphaela freezes in her steps, when she comes into sight, and Lucifer and Gabriel fly apart with guilty expressions on their faces.

“What the fuck?” is all she says.

Lucifer just shrugs and leans back, arms on the backrest of the bench behind Sam and Gabriel. Gabriel gets his nonchalance back pretty fast, too. He snatches his lollipop from his adopted brother and puts it back into his mouth. “Hi Raphe.”

After it becomes obvious that she won’t be getting an explanation, Raphaela puts her hands into her pockets and takes a step closer. “Came to give you a hug,” she says, looking at Lucifer. “Won’t kiss you, though.”

Lucifer gives a startled laugh, but then his features grow softer. “Good thing I’m not into girls anyway.” He leans forward. “Come here.”

Raphaela practically flings herself into his arms. “Why do you always have to yell at each other like that?”

“Because I’m right and Mike refuses to see it.”

That makes her giggle. “He always sounds more like a dick than he means to, you know that, do you?”

“That doesn’t make me any less right.”

Sam can’t help but smile at Lucifer’s playful tone.

“Idiot,” Raphaela says. “I hugged Mike before I came here, by the way. So you just got proxy hugged by him.”

“Eww.” It doesn’t sound like Lucifer actually means it. He holds onto Raphaela a while longer, before he lets go of her.

She straightens up and smoothes out the dress she’s wearing. “Can you at least try and get along?”

“Can he at least try and take the stick out his ass?”

Raphaela sighs. “Yeah, that’s likely … I think you’re right, by the way. You have to make sure Metatron doesn’t get away easy, and I don’t get why Mike is all about staying legal so much.”

“Great.” Gabriel rolls his eyes. “Luci, I think we might actually be a terrible influence.”

Lucifer has a thoughtful expression on his face now. Is it too much to hope that he just realized he has to set a good example for his little sister? Maybe that’s a good way to get both of them to be a bit more careful.

* * *

After Raphaela is gone again, Sam turns to both of his boyfriends. “Just in case it wasn’t clear, I’m with you whatever you’re planning. Michael ordered me to try and keep you from doing illegal things, but if I can’t, I can’t.” He shrugs. “Just try not to get us into too much trouble.”

“You’re right, Gabe. Terrible influence.” Lucifer captures Sam’s lips in a rough kiss.

Then he turns to Gabriel, hesitating a moment. Gabriel smiles. “You don’t seriously have to ask where I stand, do you?”

“No.” Lucifer keeps staring at him intently. “Not when it comes to Metatron at least.”

After a moment, Gabriel seems to catch on and he leans forward until he’s almost nose to nose with Lucifer. “You’re an annoying idiot and I hope you already know that I love you. I have no idea in which way anymore. Wouldn’t mind experimenting. Liked kissing you.” Is he blushing again? It’s kind of cute.

Lucifer grins. “Of course you liked kissing me. I’m good at it. Right Sammy?”

Sam rolls his eyes, but can’t help to smile again. “Totally turned me gay,” he jokes.

“Oh, don’t inflate his ego too much.” Gabriel hands Sam his lollipop. “Hold this.”

Sam takes the candy and puts it into his own mouth. It tastes like cherry and a bit like Gabriel. Then he leans back to watch his boyfriends kiss again. Hopefully this will not backfire in the long run.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edit: I almost forgot to mention it again. The next chapter is another Dean chapter. The last one, because this story is coming to an end.


	28. Chapter 28

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Dean and Michael talk about younger siblings.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promised Dean/Michael sex. Here we go. Complete with a light D/s thing, though I'm completely incapable of writing a really serious BDSM scene, so don't expect too much.
> 
>  **Warning** : Dean has been with not so good doms before and it shows in his thoughts a bit.
> 
> This is the last Dean chapter! There are not many more chapters to go now.  
> I want to thank all the Michean shippers who got excited about this fic, even though it's not mainly about their ship. You're all wonderful and thank you so much for your support. I hope you liked what I did with Dean and Michael.

When Dean walks back into the room, he can see Raphe hugging Mike. After a moment she lets her big brother go and smiles at Dean, before she slips out.

Michael sighs and falls back into his chair, looking tired now. “It can’t be that hard to not break laws just for once!” he mutters to himself.

“Depends.” Dean steps closer, opting to sit on the edge of the table near Michael. His boyfriend throws him a slightly disapproving look, but doesn’t say anything.

“Depends on what?” he asks instead.

“Well,” Dean says. “If you got a problem and you’re used to solving problems in a certain way and you know you’re good at it and you really want to succeed, of course you stick to the things you already know work.”

And he isn’t even sure why he defends Lucifer and Gabriel. He doesn’t want them getting Sammy into trouble either. But he kind of gets it. He understands where they’re coming from.

Michael still looks tired, but he’s listening now.

So Dean goes on. “When I got that blackmail message, I just wanted to find out, who was behind it. I didn’t care how and of course the first thing that came to my mind was illegal, because that’s what I’m used to. And after I would’ve found out …” He shrugs. He hadn’t quite thought that far ahead, but he knows one thing for sure. “Let’s just say telling the cops didn’t even cross my mind. My whole life the cops getting involved has meant more trouble, not less. Turning to anyone for help hasn’t been an option in a lot of cases either.” He almost didn’t even tell Sam, because he hadn’t wanted to worry him. “With asking people for help, it’s always … You never know –”

“You never know, if the person helping you actually has your best interests at heart or if they just help you, because they want something from you,” Michael finishes the sentence for him. “I may have never turned to crime, but I know that one, Dean. As Nick pointed out so nicely, I do have a pretty face. Very easy to find ‘helpful’ people that way.”

Oh. So Michael hasn’t told Dean everything yet. Sounds like there is a reason for him getting so disproportionately angry about Lucifer’s pretty face remark earlier. This is not the right time to ask about it though.

“And I really do understand about all of your backgrounds and what that means,” Michael goes on. “But Lucifer doesn’t even give me the chance to do things my way.” The shift in which name he uses is kind of interesting. “And they may not mean to, but what him and Gabriel do with this is teaching Raphaela that illegal means are always the best way to solve things.” He points at Dean. “Look at her going through your phone. It was a good thing she did it in that case, but that doesn’t make it more right in general! And she learned it from them. She adores them! To her I’m the boring brother. She’ll take after them, but she’ll be even more careless than them, because she’s so much younger.”

That’s a fucking good point. One that Dean likes even less than the younger Shurley brothers getting Sam in trouble. Sam knows how to handle trouble. And Raphe may have been part of a gang once, but she’s still so young.

Dean bites his lower lip in thought, than he says: “Why don’t you ask them for a chance to show them your way works, too?”

For a moment there is nothing but silence from Michael. “I thought I did that,” he says after a while.

And Dean can’t help it, he laughs. He knows it’s not nice, but Michael is really cute, when he’s confused about how he comes across when talking to people. “No, you tried to make Lucifer follow orders and you didn’t give good reasons why telling the press about Metatron will be enough in terms of revenge.”

“I …” Michael starts to protest, but then stops himself. Dean can see the muscles of his jaw working. He’s either annoyed or thinking, it’s hard to tell. Maybe both.

“You know,” Dean says, “when we were younger and dad was still doing his drill sergeant routine to teach us how to fight, Sammy would sometimes refuse to obey just on the grounds that he hates being ordered around.”

Michael huffs. “Sounds very familiar.”

“But,” Dean goes on, “sometimes when that happened, it helped when I stepped up and explained to him, why we had to do it. He’d still be pissed, but he’d do it anyway, because he realized I had a point. And because I asked nicely.”

“You think they don’t realize they’re setting a bad example for Raphaela?” Michael asks. “I … I mean Gabriel probably doesn’t, but Lucifer ...”

“I hadn’t realized before you mentioned it,” Dean admits. They’re all too used to look at things a certain way, aren’t they? Michael is the only one who doesn’t have the same background they have. “I taught my baby brother how to pick locks, when he was five. All those skills aren’t bad skills to have in theory. To Sam and me they were important for survival. I guess it’s the same for Gabriel and Lucifer.”

“I haven’t thought about it like that before.” Lost in thought Michael cards a hand through his hair. “It could work ... If I manage to get the idea that he’s harming Raphaela into Lucifer’s thick skull, that is.” He pauses and stares past Dean for a moment. “Maybe if I get Gabriel to convince him, they might keep from doing something stupid long enough for me to prove that I can ruin Metatron just as thoroughly through legal means.”

If Dean isn’t completely mistaken the glimmer that he can see in Michael’s eyes now means he likes the challenge. There is a vicious streak in the oldest Shurley after all, and it makes Dean’s thoughts go in a very distracting direction. He manages a nod. “Present it as a compromise maybe. If the rest of the family isn’t satisfied with the results, they can still try it their way afterwards.”

There’s a slight smile on Michael’s face and then he steps forward between Dean’s legs as if he belongs there. He places his hands on the table top on both sides of Dean, and kisses him. “I think I should give Lucifer time to calm down, before I go talk to him.”

Dean smiles. “Oh, and how do you want to spend said time?”

Michael leans in and his breath ghosts hot over the shell of Dean’s ear. “It would be nice, if _someone_ followed my orders without talking back today.”

That sends a pleasant shiver down Dean’s spine. “It would be my pleasure, sir.”

* * *

Dean’s heart hammers like mad, when Michael leads him to his bedroom. Dean has been here before and they had pretty awesome sex, but nothing actually kinky so far.

Dean isn’t sure what to expect now. Michael how he is, when he is the most nervous, maybe. When he is all rigid and bossy. What Dean gets is better, though.

It seems as if their talk has taken a weight off Michael’s shoulders. He doesn’t seem rigid at all. Instead, when he pulls a chair next to the bed to sit, his movements are graceful and regally. “Your safeword, Dean.”

“I don’t need a –”

“Dean!”

“Poughkeepsie, sir.”

Michael lifts an eyebrow, but doesn’t comment. “Strip and get on the bed.”

Dean smiles. He likes the direction this is taking. “Yes, sir.”

And he definitely likes the way Michael looks at him now.

“Do you think you can edge yourself until I tell you you’re allowed to come?”

Oh fuck yes. “Yes, sir,” he manages, a bit hoarse.

Dean had been with a few doms. It was his only way to relax for a while, when dad’s condition has gotten so bad that getting drunk hadn’t been an option, because he always had to be prepared for the worst. But leaving Sam on guard duty for an hour or two to get his brains fucked out by someone who likes to be in charge, that was something Dean had indulged in now and then.

Michael is different than most of them, though. He doesn’t demand respect, he just gets it with the way he holds himself. And he doesn’t demand that Dean stays serious. He actually gets a bit chatty now of all times, asks how Dean is feeling, laughs and smiles, when Dean doesn’t just put on a show but pulls all registers to flirt with his boyfriend while he lies on the bed, lazily stroking himself.

“Tell me, when you’re getting close.”

Dean bites his lip. “Pretty close by now, sir.”

For a few seconds Michael just watches Dean very closely, pupils blown, lips slightly open in a way that practically begs for a kiss. Thousand kisses. And Dean keeps eye contact while he feels warmth building in his belly.

“Stop.”

It takes conscious effort, but Dean pulls his hand away. He lies there, breathing hard, watching Michael lick his lips in a way that makes it really hard to not jump up and sit on his lap and chase his tongue.

“I could watch you like this all day.”

Dean gives a breathless laugh. “Do you want to kill me?”

That gets him a grin, a honest to god grin, something he hasn’t seen on Michael’s face ever before. “I’m sure you could take it. Ready to continue?”

“Yes, sir.”

By the third time Michael denies him an orgasm, Dean begs him to let him come, but he still obediently stops touching as soon as his boyfriend says the word. He isn’t sure, if he imagines the sound of awe Michael makes. But what he doesn’t imagine is Michael saying “Come here, Dean.” in the most soothing voice Dean has ever heard. And Dean doesn’t think. That’s the point after all. His body gets up almost by itself.

When he stands in front of Michael, in touching distance, but not touching, because that wasn’t part of the order, Michael looks him up and down for a moment with a thoughtful expression. Dean shoots him a smile. “If you just want to get a closer look, take a picture, it lasts longer.”

Michael chuckles. “I prefer the real thing.” He crooks a finger to indicate to Dean to get down to his level, and Dean does. He puts his hands on the armrests on both sides of Michael and Michael tilts his head back to meet Dean’s lips. Dean realizes a bit too late that this kind of puts him in the stronger position, but Michael doesn’t seem to mind. And this is just perfect. Authority and confidence that doesn’t need reassurance all the time. Which means that Dean can really let go, doesn’t even have to be careful to offend with maybe not being subby enough.

After a while, Michael starts kissing along his neck and jaw. “There’s lube in the night stand,” he says. “Get it.”

“Yes, sir.”

* * *

A while later Dean is riding Michael, still on the chair. Michael’s hands roam Dean’s body almost reverently. “Has anyone ever told you you’re beautiful, Dean?”

Dean feels himself blush at the compliment. Awkward. He ducks his head down for another kiss to avoid having to answer. And to distract himself from the fact that Michael’s dick drags over his prostate again and again and he really needs to come by now.

Only when Michael breaks the kiss and says “Don’t.” does Dean realizes his hand has drifted between their bodies. He groans, but he he pulls his hand back and curls his fingers around the armrest of the chair again. He isn’t even sure how Michael manages to make him do it, especially since he’s only using words. All of his touches are loving and gentle and he doesn’t even try to grab and manhandle Dean.

When Michael comes, head thrown back and those damned kissable lips open in a gasp, Dean feels like it wouldn’t take much for him to come untouched. But he’s never managed that before and he isn’t sure, if he actually could now. He rides Michael through his orgasm and only stops at a soft: “Enough.” They stay like this for while, Michael stroking Dean’s back, while Dean shakes with need.

“How are you feeling?”

“I’m good.”

“Okay, then get off.”

“Yes, sir.” Dean’s voice is shaking, too, and he feels Michael’s concerned gaze on him, when he stumbles while getting to his feet. “I’m good, I swear,” he adds.

“You’re perfect,” Michael says with a smile. “But I think this is enough. Take my place.”

“Yes, sir.”

Michael cleans himself off with his shirt and zips his pants up again, while Dean obeys his order.

It almost feels like a dream, when the next moment there’s shirtless Michael kneeling between Dean legs. This is new and it most likely one of the best views Dean has had in his life so far.

“You can come now.”

Dean almost sobs, when his boyfriend swallows him down, and it takes only seconds until he comes with a yell, bucking his hips up into Michael’s mouth.

After the last tremors subside, he just collapses on the chair.

Michael gives one last suck, that has Dean shivering, then he pops off and smiles up at Dean. “Are you alright?”

Dean laughs. “Are you kidding me?”

Michael rests his head against Dean’s thigh, and Dean’s hand comes up almost by itself, carding through his boyfriend’s hair. Dean isn’t sure, if the complete role reversal is intentional or if Michael is just too lazy to get up for the moment.

“I honestly thought I might have taken it too far,” Michael admits, “but your amount of self-control is amazing.”

“It’s not self control,” Dean says. “I could never do this to myself. It’s just allowing you complete control. Not thinking, remember?”

Michael makes that sound again that sounds like he’s in awe of something, and with how mushy his brain is, it takes Dean a moment to realize it probably means him. “You’re welcome,” he mumbles.

His boyfriend laughs and slowly gets up. “Come on, let’s get you somewhere more comfortable.”

* * *

They move to the bed and stay there for a while, curled into each other. Finally Michael stirs, though.

“I should go talk to my brothers. And then I’ll have to see what father has decided about Gadreel.”

Dean nods and kisses him. “Should I come along?”

Michael shakes his head. “Lucifer will be easier to handle, when he doesn’t feel like he has to show off in front of an audience.”

“Okay, good luck.”

Dean’s boyfriend pulls a face. “I’ll need that.” Then his gaze drifts along Dean’s body and he smiles again. “You know, you could wait for me here. Just like this.”

Dean looks down at himself. He hasn’t bothered with clothes yet. Finally he grins up at Michael. “If you take too long, I’ll be asleep.”

“I can’t see the downside to finding a gorgeous, naked man sleeping in my bed after a long day.”

Dean is pretty sure his heart will burst, if Michael keeps this up. “Don’t you have somewhere to be?” he mumbles.

Michael laughs. “Learn to take a compliment.”

It’s kind of hard to give a salute, while lying down, but Dean does his best. “Yes, sir.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> About Dean and his former doms. Since this is not going to get answered any more, here is what I thought: He used this as his only way to deal with stress for a while, instead of getting drunk like he does in canon. Which means he didn't go looking for a perfect match, he just tried to find anyone at all who could roughly give him what he needed. And Dean is tall and strong and pretty confident, which might be a bit intimidating for a slightly insecure dom. Which means they would've asked for extra subby behavior to compensate for their own insecurities. Nothing really bad happened to him, though.


	29. Plans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which they listen on doors and get to know a new side of Michael.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AlpacaCommander dropped the nickname Creepertron in the comments, so I had to use it.

Sam thinks he’s too grown up to listen in on closed doors, so he just leans on the opposite wall, while Gabriel and Raphaela press their ears against the wood of the door Michael and Lucifer have disappeared behind. So far no one has yelled. That’s probably a good sign.

As if just thinking about it has jinxed it, Lucifer’s voice on the other side gets louder.

Then there’s Michael: “No! You don’t get to run this time, Lucifer!”

“I’m not running!” is the angry answer.

“Yes, you are! I never wanted to chase you away! But every time someone mentions that a bit of distance would maybe do us good, you jump at it and act like you’re not welcome!”

“I am not welcome!”

Ouch. Sam exchanges a glance with Gabriel and the youngest Shurley brother pulls a pained face.

“Do you ever listen to yourself?” Lucifer goes on. “I’m a bad influence on Lilith, I bring unrest into our family, I get Gabe and Sam into trouble, and now I’m a bad influence on Raphe, too!”

“Well, you’ll never act reasonable for your own sake, so what am I supposed to tell you? That I worry about you? Would that do any good?”

For a moment there is nothing but silence on the other side of the door.

What Michael says next is more level again and Sam can’t understand it. After that there’s the murmur of voices.

“I think they’re talking now,” Raphaela says after a while. “I mean, actually talking.”

“Mhm.” Gabriel sounds carefully optimistic, too.

They linger a while longer, but finally Gabriel pulls Raphaela away from the door. “This is getting too personal. Come on.”

He shoos Raphaela back to her room, then Sam and Gabriel retreat to Gabriel’s room. It takes more than an hour until Lucifer shows up there, too. Sam watches him closely. At least, he doesn’t look angry.

He flops onto the bed, next to Sam, who has been lying there, reading. “Mike wants a go at Creepertron, before we try anything.”

Gabriel turns away from the three monitors on his desk and shrugs. “Fine by me.”

Lucifer turns to Sam. “Sam?”

“I get a vote, too?”

“Of course! I’d say having two Shurley boyfriends makes you part of the family, don’t you think?”

That makes Sam feel a bit dizzy. He hadn’t thought about it that way yet. So far Dean and their dad had been all the family he had. Then Sam remembers the question and imitates Gabriel’s shrug. “I’m not that big on revenge anyway.”

“Okay,” Lucifer says. “Mike gets until a week before Metadouche has to turn his manuscript in. If we’re not happy with Mike’s results, we can still go burn it then. We have his official approval, though he has asked not to tell him details.”

Gabriel chuckles. “Are we a bad influence on him, too, now?”

That makes Lucifer grin. “He claims he’s trying to be a good influence on us.”

“Whatever gets him through the day.” There’s a lot of affection in Gabriel’s voice, though. Sam is pretty sure that the talk about them potentially being a bad influence on Raphaela has gotten through to both of them and that’s probably why they agreed so readily to Michael’s plan.

“Speaking about bad influences,” Lucifer says and turns to Sam to steal a kiss. “Are there any new filthy depths we could drag you into tonight?”

Sam laughs and chases Lucifer’s lips. “I don’t know about you, but I’m not bored by the old filthy depths yet.”

* * *

The next day, Gadreel gets reassigned as Lucifer has predicted. Naomi gets let off with a warning, because she really just tried to protect Gadreel. Lucifer rolls his eyes, but keeps his mouth shut.

Raphaela moves back into the mansion. Lucifer stays, too. Apparently he has his own room here, but he doesn’t go there once. Instead all three of them stay in Gabriel’s room most of the time. Or in the garden.

Gabriel and Lucifer make a habit out of making out vigorously, sometimes for Sam’s sake, sometimes for their own. For sex they always turn to Sam, though. Sam doesn’t mind.

As the days go by, Gabriel gets more busy. Sam has always assumed he’s content living from his father’s money, but he’s apparently been thinking about building up an IT firm for a while now. Which means on the one hand that Sam has to accompany him to meetings with investors, and on the other hand that Gabriel sends his boyfriends out of the room now and then so he can work in peace.

When that happens, Lucifer takes Sam with him to band rehearsals or they go stay at Lucifer’s apartment for a while, where Lucifer plays Sam the songs he’s been working on and asks for his opinion.

Sam takes to wearing the collar in combination with flannel shirts. Who cares, if it looks a bit weird? It gets him strange looks now and then, when he has to act as a bodyguard for Gabriel. At the house of some rich acquaintance of Gabriel’s, a security guard points at it. “You someone’s dog or what?”

That would’ve hurt back when Sam hadn’t been sure yet, if he was more than a toy to his Shurleys. Now he just smiles. “Guard dog. I bite.”

The security guard laughs and slaps Sam’s shoulder and starts talking about a football match Sam hasn’t seen.

There are also calls from Crowley now and then, telling them how many bands he’s already freed from Dick Roman’s contracts. Not all of them have agreed to have Crowley act as their agent. Some of them have been too afraid to never get a record deal ever again. But the turnout is good, and then one day Dean comes to find them in the garden, waving his phone with a big grin on his face. “Hey, Lucy!”

Only then does he seem to realize that Lucifer’s hand is somewhere underneath Sam’s shirt and Gabriel is lazily sucking hickeys into Sam’s neck. Dean stops and pulls a face. “Great, that’ll be etched into my brain for a while.”

He has pulled Sam to the side a while ago, asking, if this is really what he wants, offering to hit the road again despite everything that keeps him here. He’s looked very relieved, though, when Sam told him that he really is happy with his two annoying boyfriends.

“Lucky you.” Lucifer grins at Dean and pointedly doesn’t remove his hand from where his thumb is brushing over Sam’s hipbone.

Sam clears his throat and straightens up a little on the bench they’re sitting on. “What is it, Dean?”

His brother just hands over his phone.

It’s a new message from the undisclosed number they know is Roman’s. So far Dean has let him believe that they still don’t have any clue as to who made Gadreel destroy the manuscript. The new message reads:

**What do you know about the things Nick Shurley and his agent are up to?**

Lucifer reads it and laughs. “Ooh, someone is getting worried.”

“Anything specific you want me to answer?” Dean asks. Then his eyes drift to where Lucifer’s hand still is. “And can you please stop groping my brother while we’re talking? Seriously!”

Lucifer and Gabriel chuckle in unison and of course they both lean closer to Sam. Lucifer’s hand travels behind Sam’s back towards his ass and Gabriel’s slides up Sam’s thigh.

“Guys!” Sam warns. “Cut it out!”

Gabriel leans back with a pout, but Lucifer licks Sam’s cheek, before he does the same.

“Seriously?” This time, Sam and Dean speak at the same time. Sam wipes the wet streak away with the sleeve of his shirt and glares at the still grinning Lucifer. Yes, he’s very happy with his two annoying boyfriends, but sometimes they could be just a little bit less annoying.

“If you don’t focus right about now,” Dean threatens, “I tell Dick all I know is that you’re changing genre and writing a sappy love song at the moment.”

Gabriel laughs. “What do I have to bribe you with to actually do that?”

Lucifer reaches around Sam to slap the back of Gabriel’s head, but then he gets serious. “Do we still need Roman to believe he has an inside man here?” he asks.

Dean shrugs. “Mike says to keep him on my good side for now.”

“In that case tell him you overheard me on the phone and we’re planning to destroy him. He can’t do anything about it anyway. Let him know who’s responsible, when he’s standing in the ruins of his exploiter company.”

Dean rolls his eyes in unison with Gabriel, which is probably an unique bonding moment for both of them. “That’s a bit over dramatic, don’t you think?” Gabriel says.

Lucifer shrugs and leans back, looking at Dean. “You gonna do it or not?”

“It’s your secrets. Want me to add you said you’re gonna crush him under your boot or something to that effect?”

Gabriel sniggers. “Peel off his skin and eat his soul maybe.”

Now Dean is grinning, too. “Drink mead from his skull, when you’re done with him.”

Lucifer hmpfs. “Whatever makes you happy. I think I’ll just go back to groping your brother.” With that he hooks his finger under Sam’s collar and pulls him down for a kiss. Sam goes willingly, grinning against Lucifer’s lips, when Dean does a full body eyeroll and stomps off.

* * *

A week later there are things starting to pop up about Metatron in the press. It’s not enough yet, to make his and Chuck’s publishing house change their plans regarding him, but Chuck reports that his editor is getting a bit uneasy.

There are still three weeks to go until Michael’s time limit runs out, when he calls all three of them into his office.

“I need your help,” he says without much preamble.

Lucifer grins. “Do you now?”

“Nothing illegal,” Michael clarifies.

“Awww,” Gabriel makes, probably just to annoy his oldest brother.

Michael’s bitchface is pretty good. “Listen,” he says. “If this works, I can make Metatron admit what he’s done publicly. Would you like that?”

One quick look shows Sam that both his boyfriends are listening very closely now.

“What do we have to do?” Gabriel asks.

Michael smiles. “We’ll throw a party in two weeks. Metatron is invited and will come, I’ll make sure of that.” He looks at Gabriel. “Your part is easy. I want you to show off your boyfriend.”

Oh, so this will be a message to Metatron that him meeting Sam hadn’t been a coincidence. Make him notice Sam, make him realize he had been spied on.

“He’s my boyfriend, too,” Lucifer protests.

Michael nods. “Of course. But if we let them know that, there’ll be nothing else in the articles about the party, and I want the press to concentrate on Metatron, not on: ‘Love triangle or poly relationship? What is the infamous Lucifer up to now?’”

Gabriel leans against Sam to bury his face against Sam’s shoulder, shaking with suppressed laughter. “Is it just me or would Mikey make a good trash journalist?” he whispers.

Apparently, Michael’s talents in making up trash headlines aside, Lucifer has to admit this makes sense, because he doesn’t protest right away. He doesn’t look happy, though. “So I just have to keep my hands off Sam?” he asks.

“No,” Michael says. “That too, of course, but you also have to make Metatron feel uneasy. Make him feel we know everything he did and there will be something bad coming for him. I want him on edge.”

There’s an amused smile tugging on the corners of Lucifer’s lips now. “Using me to scare people, now?”

Michael shrugs. “You do that without prompting all the time anyway.”

“Fair enough. If this doesn’t work out, though, we’ll go do our own thing right after,” Lucifer threatens.

“Fine.”

“And don’t you dare come up with a dress code that doesn’t allow Sam wearing a collar!”

Sam rolls his eyes. “Lucifer,” he says. “You’re overstepping.” He hasn’t agreed to wearing Lucifer’s collar to a fucking party yet and he isn’t sure, if he wants to, if Lucifer just assumes he will.

For a moment, Lucifer glares at him. Sam hooks his thumbs behind the waistband of his jeans, holds the gaze and waits for Lucifer’s brains to catch up to his emotions. Sure enough, after a moment the deep line between Lucifer’s brows evens out. Only then does Sam step closer for a kiss. “I’m yours,” he says. “No matter if anyone knows or not and no matter if I wear anything that marks me as yours or not.”

“And you can tell them right after we’re done with Metatron,” Michael says. “All I’m asking is to keep the focus off you for now.”

“Fine,” Lucifer says after a moment. “I just hope this’ll be worth it.”


	30. And the culprit is ...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which tokens are exchanged and Metatron gets tricked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I ran and changed part of this chapter because of a comment Silvaxus made last Friday. Thanks again :-)

The day of the party arrives soon. The dress code calls for a suit, so Sam puts on the only one he has, while Lucifer lazes around on his bed. Of course the punk completely ignores any kind of dress code. He’s opted for a black sleeveless shirt and a jeans vest that show off his snake tattoo. There are sew on badges with band logos on his vest. The outer seam of his right pants leg is not actually a seam, but only held together by safety pins, and then there’s his spiked collar. Michael will not be happy.

Sam’s collar is lying on his night stand. He isn’t sure yet, if he wants to defy the dress code by wearing it or not. He could. Michael would probably just roll his eyes. But the combination with a suit will definitely make it look weird. Lucifer looks between Sam and the collar now and then, but he doesn’t push the issue.

Sam is just about done with his tie, when Gabriel breezes in. Sam doesn’t have to look up to know it’s him. He’s the only one in the household by now, who dares enter a room with Sam and Lucifer in it without knocking.

“Ready?” he asks.

When Sam looks up, his breath catches. Gabriel looks seriously good in a suit. He’s kind of glad that Lucifer doesn’t wear one, too, because that’d probably kill him. Though Lucifer’s punk outfit is hot, too, of course, but he’s more used to that.

“Mostly,” Sam answers belatedly.

Gabriel’s eyes drift towards the collar, too, his hand sliding into the pocket of his suit jacket at the same time. “I may have a solution for that.” He nods into the direction of the collar.

Lucifer sits up.

Sam picks up his own jacket and looks at Gabriel in a questioning way. The shorter man grins and pulls a small metal disk from his pocket. He flips it in Sam’s direction and Sam catches it.

Sam looks at it, lying in the palm of his hand. It’s an unassuming silver disk with a hole in it and Lucifer’s name on one side, Gabriel’s name on the other. “You made me a dog tag?”

Gabriel’s shrug looks a bit apologetic. “You can wear it on a piece of string underneath your shirt or something like that. No one will see it, but Luci’ll know it’s there and feel better.”

That sounds kind of nice, but it’s still a fucking dog tag.

Seeing his face, Gabriel pulls something else from his pocket. “I knew you wouldn’t like it, Samshine, so I had these made, too. Catch, Luci.” He flips another dog tag in Lucifer’s direction and keeps the last one, holding it out to Sam for inspection.

This one has Sam’s name on one side and Lucifer’s on the other. That is unexpected. As soon as Sam is done looking at it, Gabriel takes it back.

Lucifer is still busy turning his own in his hands. “You put your name on here, too?”

“He also put yours on his,” Sam says. And something about this makes him very happy. He smiles at Gabriel, who doesn’t seem to know where to look all of a sudden. That’s kind of disconcerting and cute at the same time. Gabriel doesn’t do shy very often.

“It’s all three of us, isn’t it?” he says almost defiantly. “All three of us belong together.”

Lucifer gets up from the bed and stalks towards his adopted brother, slight smile on his lips. “You’re right, and you know what that means?” He loosens Gabriel’s tie and then reaches for the collar of Gabriel’s shirt, fingers playing with the uppermost button.

“I guess you’re gonna tell me,” Gabriel says, and he may stand his ground and look Lucifer straight in the eyes, but by now Sam knows him well enough to pick up some small signs of nervousness.

Lucifer grins in a predatory way and opens the first button. “We missed something else.”

“Even if we decided to finally do it, there’s no time for sex now,” Gabriel says, still tense. Sam steps behind him and snakes his arms around Gabriel’s waist, and his boyfriend practically melts into the touch.

“I don’t want to fuck.” Lucifer is three buttons down by know and traces the hickey Sam always renews on Gabriel’s collar bone. Then the tip of his fingers trail over skin to the other end of the collarbone that’s unmarked for now. He throws Gabriel a questioning look.

“Only if I get to mark you, too.”

Lucifer grins and ducks his head down.

When he bites down, Gabriel curses and throws his head back against Sam. “Fuck, Samshine, how do you stand that every time?”

Sam laughs. “I kind of like it.”

“Luci,” Gabriel grits out through clenched teeth, “I think our boyfriend is even more kinky than he’s let on so far.”

Lucifer chuckles against his skin, then he straightens up again. Gabriel glares at him, while he buttons up his shirt. “Just for the record, it fucking hurts and you’ll just leave a hickey next time, like a sane person.”

“We’ll see.” Lucifer pulls down the collar of his own shirt and tilts his head to the side a little. “Come on.”

He doesn’t have to ask twice. Gabriel grabs his shoulders and pulls him closer. The next moment Lucifer shouts a curse. “Hey! You never bite Sam!”

Sam grins. “I never bite him either.”

“Fair enough,” Lucifer admits. “And you’re a wuss, Gabe, it doesn’t hurt that–” He breaks off with another curse, when Gabriel probably digs his teeth in harder.

Finally, Gabriel straightens up again. “Now, as long as you insist on leaving bite marks, I will, too.”

Lucifer shrugs and smoothes out his clothes. “Worth it.” Then he looks at Sam, who’s still holding the dog tag in his hand.

At the question in Lucifer’s eyes, Sam turns the small silver disk between his fingers. “Okay. Fine. We can do this.”

* * *

The party is a rich people kind of party, of course, which means a lot of standing around holding champagne glasses making polite conversation. Gabriel has his arm slung around Sam’s waist almost the whole time, and Dean shoots Sam jealous glances, not because of Gabriel, but because of the fact that Sam is allowed to drink, while Dean has to work and keep an eye on Raphaela.

The youngest Shurley sibling looks pretty radiant today in a red dress, her hair hanging in braids over her shoulders that Dean and Lucifer had spent hours on earlier in the day. When Sam had as much as looked like he was going to comment on it, both had threatened to braid his hair next. So he had wisely kept his mouth shut.

After a while Gabriel nudges Sam. “Do you see him anywhere?”

Sam shakes his head. “Are you sure he’s coming? What did Michael do to get him to come here anyway?”

“Make it sound like it was a good way to show everyone all the ‘rumors’ are exaggerated. You know, the ones Mikey planted in the first place.” Gabriel looks kind of proud of his older brother.

Sam chuckles. “You and Lucifer are way too happy about him showing his vicious side.”

“You would be, too, if you knew him longer.”

Sam is off getting new drinks for Gabriel and him, when he sees Metatron enter. The writer looks around a bit warily, but then strides in as if he owns the place. When Sam returns with drinks, he sees that his boyfriend has chatted Metatron up. Well, that’ll get interesting.

Sam takes a moment to put a pleasant smile on his face, then he steps right next to Gabriel. “Here, darling.” He holds out a champagne glass to Gabriel. “Your drink.”

Marv Metatron’s eyes go wide in shock, and Sam has to fight to keep a grin off his face. Gabriel’s own poker face is perfect, of course. “Thanks, baby cakes.”

Sam winces because of the nickname, but bends down for a kiss. He hears Metatron mumble an excuse and sees him hurry away out of the corner of his eye. Gabriel breaks the kiss so he can snicker and watch the other writer go.

“I hope he doesn’t bolt now,” Sam says.

“No look.” Gabriel nods in Michael’s direction. The oldest Shurley has spotted the retreating writer and intercepts, drawing him into a conversation so Metatron can’t leave without being rude.

“I think I should keep showing you off anyway. Just to make sure no one misses it.” Gabriel pulls Sam down into a kiss again.

Someone clears their throat behind Sam, and he straightens up. It’s Lucifer, and he looks at Sam as if he wants to eat him whole. He’s probably itching to steal a kiss, too, and Sam catches himself in the last second to not step too close.

Instead, Lucifer does. He doesn’t touch, though, he just whispers something, barely loud enough for Sam and Gabriel to hear. “My only consolation is that Mike isn’t allowed to touch Dean either, because he’s working. But this is torture and I’m gonna fuck both of you into the mattress tonight.”

Sam struggles to keep a straight face, while Gabriel just lifts an eyebrow, amused smirk on his face. “Don’t promise things you can’t keep, Luci. You’re not twenty any more.”

Oh, so that’s Gabriel’s only problem with the thought of getting fucked by Lucifer now? Looks like the thing with the dog tags kicked another wall down. Instantly Sam feels even better about the one hanging around his neck. Tonight will definitely get interesting.

Lucifer’s lips curl into something that almost looks like a snarl and probably means ‘challenge accepted’, but he takes a step back. “In the meantime, keep an eye on dear Marv. He can’t leave, before we’re done with him, and I’m going to make an announcement soon.”

“Michael lets you make an announcement in front of everybody?” Sam asks. “I mean, after you started a fight with Dick Roman at the last party?”

Lucifer grins, that proud expression on his face that Gabriel had earlier. “It was his idea actually. I don’t know, if this is Dean’s doing or if Mike had it in him all the time, but I like this new side of him. Wait and see.”

Apparently tonight is going to get interesting in more than one way.

* * *

For the next hour Sam feels Metatron’s eyes on him most of the time. The other man watches him warily. He even tries to leave once, but is engaged in conversation by Raphaela, before he gets the chance to actually do so. She is her cheerful, bouncy self, but that only underlines the way Dean hovers next to her stone faced and silent. Of course he’s only there to ensure her safety, but to someone who’s nervous anyway he has to look a bit like a threat.

Then Michael takes a microphone and asks for silence.

“Oh no,” Gabriel says. “A speech.”

Thankfully, the oldest Shurley brother keeps it short. He thanks everyone for being here and says a few more polite words, before he cuts to the chase: “As many of you may know, my father suffered a streak of bad luck recently. The only copy of his newest work was burned.”

Sympathetic gasps can be heard all around the room. Sam also notices Lucifer now, who steps closer to Michael, watching the crowd, arms crossed in front of his chest. After a moment his gaze settles on Metatron. The small man is still standing next to Raphaela, but by now he looks like he wants to be anywhere but here.

“Thankfully, my brothers made an effort to find the person responsible for this. Which is why I’ll give the word to Lucifer now.”

Lucifer steps forward, and Michael hands the mic over. As soon as Lucifer holds it, his posture shifts to get closer to the way he always holds himself on stage and a slow wicked smile spreads across his face. Sam only notices that he has been staring, when Gabriel nudges him. “I know, Samshine, me too, but keep an eye on Marv, will you?”

Oops. Sam clears his throat and tears his gaze away from Lucifer.

“I’m happy to announce,” Lucifer says, “that the person who is responsible for the destruction of dad’s manuscript is in this room today.”

Sam can see Metatron freeze for a second. Then Lucifer’s gaze sweeps the crowd again and lands directly on the writer. His grin gets a tad more wicked. “And this person will be brought to justice shortly.”

“Come on.” Gabriel grabs Sam’s hand and pulls him through the crowd towards Metatron, who’s backing away slowly now. “Marv!” he calls cheerfully. “Are you leaving already?”

That does it. Metatrons face contorts into a grimace. “I didn’t do anything!” he yells. “Your boyfriend couldn’t have heard anything!”

Everybody turns to him, the flashes of a dozen cameras go off, someone is most likely filming, too.

“Oh, do tell,” Lucifer purrs into the mic. “What is it that Sam couldn’t have heard about the destroyed manuscript?”

Only then does Metatron realize that he made a mistake. He spins around just to see Uriel stand in the door of the ballroom. Sam feels almost sorry for him, when he sees the panic in the man’s face. If he just stopped and thought about it logically for a moment he would’ve realized that there is still no solid proof that he did anything wrong and that they can’t possible keep him from walking out of here, get a lawyer and deny everything. But apparently, all he can see is his career crumbling.

“I didn’t do anything!” Metatron yells. “Gadreel did it, the stupid boy. He burned the manuscript!”

Sam winces. Hopefully Michael has a plan to keep Gadreel out of the worst fallout of this. Maybe if the Shurleys just state that they won’t press charges, that’ll do the trick?

“Mind to tell us, how you know?” Lucifer asks.

But by now Metatron’s panic completely gets the better of him. He moves to grab a wooden skewer with cheese and grapes on it from the tablet of a passing server – Seriously? – and turns in Raphe’s direction next – As if a hostage would make this better – but Dean is faster. Before Uriel can even take two steps towards them, before Metatron can do anything, Dean has the writer secured on the ground.

Gabriel stops. “Well,” he says with a grin. “I have to admit, that was fun. I didn’t think he’d go for Raphe, though. Way to dig his own grave.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have to admit, I kind of stole this from The Mentalist.


	31. Less brotherly

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which we learn a bit more about Lucifer's control issues and there's sex (again).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the second to last chapter!
> 
> There's a bit more Shurley background and sex and a really sappy ending. There'll be one more chapter after that, then we're done.
> 
> Also, check the end notes for headcanons that didn't make it into the story.

More security takes Metatron off Dean’s hands, and it doesn’t take long until the police arrives after that. Chuck is there, too, telling them that he doesn’t want Gadreel to get drawn into this mess. And now Sam can see how he managed to adopt four teenagers even though he isn’t even married and even though three of them ran away from home, which means there must have been a lot of legal hassle to work through to make adoption possible at all.

Suddenly, Chuck doesn’t look nervous at all, he just tells the officer asking questions what he wants in a calm voice, Michael by his side, and the man nods and tells him they’ll do their best, but if he decides he wants to press charges at any point, he is free to do so of course.

Sam has never seen a police officer that polite and helpful in his life (and every single instinct he has still tells him to get away from here fast, before anyone gets the idea to ask him questions, too).

“That’s how they behave, if you have money,” Lucifer whispers into his ear. “Nice, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, didn’t know they can make faces that don’t look suspicious or angry or both.” Sam shifts his weight restlessly from one foot to the other. “Still, can we get out of here?”

To his other side, Gabriel chuckles. “Spoken like a true street rat. Luci, why don’t you take our boyfriend to our room, while I tell Mikey that Samwise the Shady isn’t going to answer any questions about the recording he made?”

That nickname would probably have earned Gabriel an elbow between the ribs, if Sam hadn’t felt so thankful right now. Of course they are going to use the recording. There is no point in holding it back now. That he most likely won’t have to answer questions about it, is a huge relief.

“With pleasure,” Lucifer purrs next to Sam’s ear.

They’re both in a way too good mood. Apparently, making Metatron embarrass himself in front of an audience plus the press and making sure he got arrested for his crimes has been deemed sufficient revenge by both of them. And that Michael was the one who orchestrated it seems to be the cherry on top.

Not that Sam doesn’t like them being happy. He allows himself to be pulled away from the police, the people and everything else, until they’re in Gabriel’s room and Lucifer shoves him against the closing door to kiss him.

Sam wraps his arms around Lucifer to pull him even closer. An evening without being allowed to touch is definitely way too long.

“Are you happy now?” he pants, while Lucifer kisses down his neck. “That means we don’t have to break into another house, right?”

Lucifer gently bites down at the soft spot below Sam’s jaw line, makes Sam tilt his head back as far as he can. “Tell me you wouldn’t have enjoyed that.” Sam can feel his lips moving against his skin.

“I probably would’ve,” Sam admits. “But I can live without excitement for a while.”

Lucifer chuckles. “Fine. Let’s find something else to break into in a few months, shall we?”

“How about we don’t break into anything just for the fun of it?” Sam pulls on Lucifer’s vest to get it off him.

“Now you’re sounding like Mike, and I really don’t want to think about my brother right now.”

“On the topic of brothers …” Sam starts.

Lucifer goes still, just leans against Sam, their foreheads pressed together. “Are you getting worried about Gabe and me getting less brotherly?”

Sam blinks in confusion. Where’s that coming from? “Why should I?”

“Because as soon as Gabe and me start fucking, you won’t be the center of attention anymore.”

“I know.” And there _is_ a small nagging voice that tells Sam they won’t need him any more at all as soon as they’ve sorted everything out between them. But he shoves it away and presses his lips on Lucifer’s for another kiss. “But if you keep bringing all the tension you’re building up between each other to me, you’re going to kill me at some point. I’m only human, you know?”

“Are you complaining about too much sex?” Lucifer nibs at Sam’s lower lip, and Sam can feel him grin.

Well, his ass is complaining a bit by now. “I’m just saying that I wouldn’t mind sharing some of the attention you’re laying on me. And I’m not just in this relationship so you’ll have someone to fuck that you don’t have conflicting brotherly feelings about, am I?”

This wasn’t supposed to sound so much like a question, but something about this conversation brings all the old insecurities out again. Lucifer cups Sam’s face with both hands and kisses him again. “Of course not, Sammy.”

Then Lucifer steps back a little and grabs Sam’s hand to pull him towards the bed. “Want to top tonight?”

That’s unexpected. “What?”

Lucifer smiles, and there’s something soft in his eyes that Sam doesn’t see there very often. When Lucifer thinks no one is watching him, he gets that looks sometimes, all his defences down. The next moment it gets replaced by a playful mischievous look. “We’re not doing the discussion thing again. Go with it or don’t.”

That doesn’t sound like Sam topping will include much of him actually being on top, but Sam can live with that very well. He smiles. “I’m game.”

He barely gets the changes to finish the sentence, before Lucifer shoves him, the back of his knees catch on the edge of the bed and he lets himself fall.

* * *

It’s only when Lucifer straddles him and slowly sinks down on Sam’s cock that Sam remembers that Lucifer had once told him that he only bottoms for people he’s in a committed relationship with. So this is his way of saying ‘I love you’? Sam reaches out for his boyfriend, but Lucifer catches his wrists and presses them against the mattress next to his shoulders.

“You couldn’t stand this without being in control as much as possible, could you?” Sam murmurs, though the words gets partly lost in a moan, when he bottoms out. 

Lucifer looks down at him under half closed lids. “I can’t stand not being in control in general.”

“You let me pin you down before.” The urge to just move already gets stronger with every second, but Sam forces himself to be patient.

“I didn’t let you, I just gave you the chance to take it. That’s different.” Finally, Lucifer starts moving, rolls his hips slowly. Carefully, Sam meets his thrusts, losing himself in the tight heat. Fuck, he has missed this, even though bottoming for Gabriel and Lucifer is great. He throws his head back, struggling against Lucifer’s grip, because he wants to touch, wants to grab Lucifer’s hips and set the pace himself.

“Relax, Sammy.” Lucifer’s teeth graze over Sam’s jaw line. “You want this to last a while, don’t you?”

Sam nods and turns his head a little, catches the piercing in Lucifer’s lower lip between his teeth, their rapid breathing mingling, while they kiss.

That’s when Gabriel comes in.

He stops at the doorstep, just staring for a second. “Holy shit!”

“Get in and close the door!” Lucifer snaps at him. He straightens up, not breaking his pace, though.

Gabriel does as he’s told, still a stunned look on his face.

“And then come here!”

“Bossy …” Gabriel loses his tie and his suit jacket on the way to the bed. As soon as he’s in reach, Lucifer grabs him by his shirt and pulls him into a kiss, and that’s definitely a view Sam would like to have more often during sex.

Then Lucifer lets go of Gabriel, lifts himself up as far as possible and slams down again. A sound between a gasp and a moan comes over Sam’s lips and he arches up against Lucifer’s grip. While Lucifer picks up his paces, Gabriel leans down to kiss Sam breathless.

It doesn’t last that long after that. Lucifer rides Sam through an orgasm that makes his toes curl. When Sam relaxes again, he feels Lucifer’s fingers on his face, brushing away strands of hair that stick to his sweat covered skin.

“I guess that counts as fucking him into the mattress, too,” Gabriel finally comments.

Sam throws him a grin. “That means it’s your turn now.”

Gabriel lifts an eyebrow in Lucifer’s direction. “You don’t get to pin me down.”

“You don’t get to top,” Lucifer answers. He kisses Sam one last time and climbs off him. Sam scoots to the side a little to make more room for Gabriel, too lazy to move more than necessary.

“Fine,” Gabriel says. “I wanna ride you.”

Lucifer throws his adopted brother a look that’s definitely a challenge. “Try and take control, if you can.”

For a moment, they stare at each other in way Sam knows by now isn’t actually hostile. Then a smirk spreads on Gabriel’s face. “Samshine?” he sing-songs. “Mind lending me a hand?”

Sam puts both of his hands behind his head. “I don’t think I want to take sides here.”

“May I remind you, which one of us knows how to deepthroat?”

Sam throws Lucifer a look, who watches him and Gabriel with amusement. It looks like they both take this as a game, so no harm in playing along probably. “Try something else to bribe me.”

“Next time you tell me to not do something I will actually listen?” Gabriel gives him a pleading look.

The guy definitely knows how to bribe. Sam sits up and leans closer to Lucifer. “Sorry, Gabe has very convincing arguments. Want to pick a safeword?”

Lucifer scowls at him. “If I win, I’ll tie you up for the next round.”

“That’s all you’ll get from him,” Gabriel says.

Sam hesitates a second longer, then he shrugs. The case is pretty clear and they’ve done this before. “Fine.”

* * *

It’s good he and Gabriel are working together, because Sam isn’t sure, if he’d managed to win on his own this time. So it ends with him holding Lucifer down by his arms, while Gabriel straddles his hips. Sam kisses the scowl off Lucifer’s face and gets a bitemark on his lower lip for his trouble. “You sure, you want to do this?”

“Yes.” He looks from Sam to Gabriel and there’s that challenge in his eyes again. “What are you waiting for?”

It doesn’t take long until Gabriel finally sinks down on Lucifer’s cock, head thrown back, the dog tag still on a piece of string around his neck. Lucifer doesn’t give him much time to adjust, before he thrusts up, makes Gabriel yelp in surprise. Even finding a rhythm seems to be a struggle between the two of them.

Half way through, Lucifer twists his hands out of Sam’s grip, and flips them. He sets a rhythm that forces Gabriel to brace his hands against the headboard, and with one hand he reaches down between them to jerk Gabriel off.

Gabriel comes with a shout, closely followed by Lucifer, and Sam is pretty sure this is the hottest thing he’s ever seen in his life.

For a moment, they just stay entangled into each other, panting hard. “You okay, Gabe?” Lucifer finally asks.

“Yeah.” Gabriel sounds a bit hoarse.

“Regretting anything?”

“Yeah. That we didn’t do this sooner.”

Lucifer chuckles and places a gentle kiss on Gabriel’s forehead. “Mind if I take revenge on Sam now?” He sits up, slipping out of Gabriel, not moving much apart from that, though. “Well, not exactly right now, but in a few minutes.”

“Go ahead.” Gabriel grins.

“Traitor!” Sam complains, when Lucifer’s gaze lands on him, predatory grin slipping in place. It’s a weak complaint, a bit undermined by the fact that this look never fails to send a pleasant shiver down his spine.

“I never promised to defend you against Luci, if you helped me,” Gabriel points out. “Should’ve read the fineprint, Samsquatch.”

* * *

Later that night Sam is propped up on one elbow, still in Gabriel’s bed, and watches Lucifer sleep. His boyfriend is lying on his side, face more soft than it ever is, when he’s awake. Sam cards his fingers through Lucifer’s hair, watches him stir and lean into the touch a little.

Movement outside the bed makes Sam look up. Gabriel watches them from where he’s sitting on the chair in front of the screens on his desk. Sam smiles at him and lets his hand trail lower, between the tattooed wings, down Lucifer’s back. “Come to bed. There won’t be any interesting news until tomorrow anyway.”

Gabriel watches the path of Sam’s fingers. “Yeah, I just had to check.”

He gets up and crawls back into the bed, kissing first Sam, then Lucifer’s naked shoulder. “Still can’t believe he bottomed for you.” Gabriel grins. “That was the hottest thing I’ve ever seen.”

“What’s his issue with that anyway?” Sam asks.

Gabriel shrugs. “He hates everything that makes him vulnerable. Giving up control in general.”

“Yeah, that much is obvious.”

Gabriel scoots closer, drapes an arm around Lucifer. “He doesn’t talk much about it, but it looks like he had the shittiest childhood between all of us – yours excluded maybe. Tons of siblings, never enough supplies for everybody. Mikey says, when Luci got here, touching his stuff meant him going berserk. And when I got here, Luci postured for weeks to make sure I got that he was the baddest badass to ever badass, before he finally noticed that we have a lot in common and he started teaching me tricks.”

Sam can’t help but smile, trying to imagine teenage Lucifer posturing.

Gabriel leans over Lucifer’s body to bring his face close to Sam’s. “That he even lets you do that fighting for control thing means he trusts you a lot already, you know that?”

Sam hadn’t. He looks down at Lucifer, then back into Gabriel’s whiskey colored eyes.

“I hope you appreciate that, Samshine,” Gabriel goes on. “Because I love you, but if you ever hurt him, we’ve got a problem.”

Sam leans forward to capture Gabriel’s lips in a kiss. “I’ll do my best.”

When Sam tries to lean back, Gabriel puts a hand at the back of his neck and pulls him in again. “I’m so fucking happy we found you.”

Sam’s heart makes a happy little jump at that. “I’m happy I found you, too.”

Between them, Lucifer stirs. “Can you get any more sappy?”, he grumbles.

But when Sam lies down, strong arms pull him in as close as possible, Lucifer’s breath ghosting over his neck. “Mine,” the punk whispers.

“And you’re mine,” Sam answers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Brieflymaximumprincess and me worked out headcanons how the adoption for all four Shurley siblings happened. I didn't manage to fit this in the story, but here's what we came up with:
> 
>  **Michael** : As we know, he ran away so he wouldn't be sent to conversion therapy. Chuck couldn't adopt him, until his parents gave him up. So Chuck went to Michael's parents and tried to talk them into it. They mostly were concerned about their reputation, but when Chuck offered enough money, they gave in. So he basically bought Michael.
> 
>  **Lucifer** : With Lucifer's parents it wasn't like they actually wanted him, but they didn't like giving him away to some rich guy either. But they finally threw a hissy fit and went: "Fine, if you want to burden yourself with him, here you go. Don't come complaining to us later, though, we're not gonna take him back."
> 
>  **Gabriel** : Gabriel turned up at Chuck's doorstep by himself one day like: "I heard you adopt unwanted gay kids. I already forged most of the papers. They just need your signature here."
> 
>  **Raphaela** : Raphaela was throw out by her parents at a younger age than the others and she actually had been thrown out. Custody was officially taken from her parents and given to Chuck through legal means, which everybody thought was pretty anti-climatic at this point.


	32. Tabloids and Whiskey

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which this story comes to an end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it! This is the end! Thanks to everyone who came along for the ride! I hope you had fun.  
> I couldn't have done this without my very wonderful beta reader [coplins](http://archiveofourown.org/users/coplins), who is basically responsible for the fact that the Dean/Michael storyline exists. And [Brieflymaximumprincess](http://archiveofourown.org/users/brieflymaximumprincess), who gave me some of the best ideas. And [Mrs_Simon_Tam_PHD](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Mrs_SimonTam_PHD/pseuds/Mrs_SimonTam_PHD) (aka Lucibae), who checked my English and always cheered me on.
> 
> Also, this chapter last was in parts inspired by askatosch, who drew this picture of [Dean and Michael sharing a glass of whiskey](https://askatosch.tumblr.com/post/165198437879/quick-and-messy-sketch-of-dean-and-michael-sharing) and made me realize that there was not enough drinking in this fic yet. And that them sharing a glass would be funny.

Sam isn’t sure, who came up with the idea of a garden gathering, but it’s definitely a good idea. They have reason for it, too. It’s been a month since Metatron has been arrested at the party, and by now there’s enough evidence against him to prosecute him. His publisher has decided against publishing his book. Michael has actually managed to ruin him. Lucifer and Gabriel are very proud.

Now all of them except Michael sit on deck chairs near the pool, and Gabriel has procured a bottle of really good whiskey from somewhere. Raphaela is allowed two sips from Lucifer’s glass, but gets served apple juice on the rocks in a whiskey glass after that. So far, Dean has complained about Lucifer and Gabriel getting too handsy with Sam only once, so it’s a good day by their standards. Their bickering is mostly friendly.

Gabriel is hunched over a tablet, checking the news, because the press knows since yesterday that punk rock star Lucifer is sharing a boyfriend with his brother.

“Oh, listen to this!” he calls.

“Oh no,” Dean groans. “I don’t know, if I can take any more journalists speculating over my baby brother’s sex life.”

“Wuss.” Lucifer takes another sip from his glass.

“I wanna hear!” Raphaela says.

It’s not like anyone could’ve kept Gabriel from reading aloud what he found anyway. He clears his throat as if he has an important announcement to make. “‘Lucifer’s new boyfriend is not only extremely handsome, he is also a giant of a man. Big enough – apparently – for two, because Lucifer has decided to share with his younger brother Gabriel.’”

“Okay,” Dean says. “The one before that where they called Sammy the mayonnaise in a Shurley sandwich was worse.”

Gabriel grins. “This one is really great, because they go on describing Sammykins.”

Now Lucifer gets up and stands behind Gabriel to take a look at the tablet himself. Sam for his part isn’t sure how to feel about the press commenting on his looks so much. He knows he’s a decent looking guy, but ‘extremely handsome’?

“Sammy,” Lucifer says, now grinning, too, “did you know you look like the love child of a ray of sunshine and a lion?”

Seriously? Sam ducks his head down and takes a sip from his glass.

Dean laughs. “Aww, I think you made our lion king blush.” 

Thankfully, Sam gets saved by Michael, who picks this moment to join them. He sits on Dean’s deck chair, Dean scooting over a bit to make room for him, and takes the glass out of Dean’s hand to take a sip. “Have you heard the news?”

“That Metatron is toast?” Gabriel asks.

Michael shakes his head, while Dean snatches his glass back. “Dick Roman.”

That makes all of them perk up. “What about him?” Lucifer asks.

Michael smiles. “Some of the bands have started speaking up about the experience working for him. His company is taking a pretty bad hit right now.”

That makes all of them cheer.

“So,” Dean says. “We won. Everybody who tried to give us shit is done.”

“As it should be.” Gabriel leans back in his chair.

Lucifer returns to his own seat and lifts his glass. “To us winning.”

They clink glasses and drink. Michael steals Dean’s glass again to take a sip, too.

“Do you want me to get you your own glass, Mike?” Dean asks.

The oldest Shurley shakes his head. “I shouldn’t drink, I still have work to do.”

“Well, then stop drinking.” Dean snatches his glass back again. “It doesn’t make a difference, if it’s your glass or mine.”

“Of course it does!” Raphaela chimes in. “It’s the same as with calories. If you steal food from other people’s plates it doesn’t count either.”

“Listen to your sister, Mikey,” Gabriel says grinning. “She knows what she’s talking about.”

“Talking about stealing,” Michael says. “ _Someone_ replaced all of Mrs. Abaddon’s fur coats with neon colored fake fur recently.”

Sam does his best to keep his expression as innocent as Lucifer’s and Gabriel’s.

“Wearing fur means contributing to animal abuse,” Lucifer says after a moment.

“And she was talking shit about Raphe’s dress at the party,” Gabriel adds.

“She did,” Raphaela confirms. “It was quite rude.”

Michael pinches the bridge of his nose. “When were you planning to tell me about this, Sam?”

“Tonight probably,” Sam answers. “I didn’t want to ruin your night out with Dean yesterday.”

The oldest brothers both sigh and shake their heads. “Okay,” Michael says after a moment. “What did you do with the real fur?”

Gabriel grins. “Let’s say some homeless people will be very happy, when winter comes around.”

Another sigh, then Michael takes Dean’s glass one last time and downs it’s contents with one gulp. He kisses Dean and gets up. “Come to my office at 1800.”

“Yes, sir.”

While Michael walks away, Lucifer pulls a face. “You have no right complaining about us getting too handsy, if you pull shit like that.”

This time it’s Dean, who goes for an innocent face. “What did I do?”

“We all know, what it means, when you go Yessir like that,” Gabriel adds.

“Well, maybe, but at least I’m not shoving my tongue all the way down Mike’s throat in public.”

“You should try it. It’s fun.”

Before things can escalate into a fight, Sam leans over and kisses Gabriel. That always works as a distraction. As soon as he straightens up again, Lucifer pulls him in the other direction, hands wandering, while he presses his lips to Sam’s.

“Really, Sammy?” Raphaela does her best to imitate Dean. “Right in front of my apple juice?”

Sam and Lucifer break their kiss laughing.

This isn’t quite the life Sam and Dean had imagined, when they took this job. But they’re sure as hell not going to complain. And slowly, very slowly, the Shurley mansion starts to feel like the home they never had. Like a place where they can stay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> By the way. The lion king thing is from a con video. I you want to take a look, it's [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kVXc6U0JcY) at around 18:14.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments inspire and motivate me. I'm always happy to hear thoughts and theories. Also, if you suggest something in the comments that I like, it might end up in the story. (No promises though.)


End file.
